A Crime to Play
by Dita von Teese
Summary: Aqua is back in action thanks to a chance encounter with a familiar fellow in the Realm of Darkness. However, she soon realizes that it's such a fine line between a good man and a bad. Her once strong exterior melts away to reveal rising fears and forbidden desires as she finds herself caught in a dangerous game with the "Terra" she once knew. Rated T for now; M for later chapters.
1. Introduction

**Notes:** This is a 100 themes challenge (the specific list of themes I'm doing is the one from 100ThemeWriters . DeviantArt . com). So yes, you'll be getting 100 glorious chapters of pure Terranort/Aqua that's chock full of slice-of-(psychotic)-life type stories. I've so badly wanted to do a XemAqua story for the longest time and have already written ideas for it, but the problem is that I have a plot that's going nowhere. All I have right now are a collection of plot bunnies; I have difficulty in making them into a solid plot. So I decided to do the 100 themes challenge instead in order to improve my writing since I find that I'm much better at writing lemons and short stories than epic, novel-length story-lines.

**Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and all characters are developed by SQUARE-ENIX, but belong to Disney. I do not make money from writing this fan fiction.

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Theme No. 1: Introduction

Eight dark-cloaked Nobodies have gathered in the room of Where Nothing Gathers, occupying most of the empty, colossal thrones one by one. The leader of the dark-cloaked group has summoned them all for an urgent meeting concerning an 'old friend' of his.

And before and below the leader stands the old friend, looking visibly shaken despite exhibiting the demeanor of a fearless warrior.

Chatter erupts amongst the dark-cloaked figures that surround the newcomer. Whispers of astonishment and amusement are passed from ear to ear as multiple pairs of eyes around the circular room fixate on the newcomer like a hawk fixated on its prey.

Conversations are slightly overheard: remarks of scored jackpots escape from the poker lips of The Gambler of Fate; mentions of a clandestine plan spill from the mouths of The Luna Diviner and The Flurry of Dancing Flames; comments of confusion erupt from The Key of Destiny.

One of them—The Freeshooter—stirs uncomfortably in his seat, eyes widening and mouth gaping in shock and disbelief as he realizes who the newcomer is.

_No way, it can't be…_

The newcomer is a shapely, fair woman who appeared to be in her late 20s, wearing the exact same coat as that of the Nobodies'. The coat clung poorly to her figure though, as extra layers of thick clothing underneath the woman's coat create raised ridges and bumps, managing to outline those instead of the woman's statuesque body. Layered locks of soft, cerulean hair flow like water over the woman's smooth, ivory shoulders, and are just a few centimeters shy of brushing the nipples of her perky breasts. Hidden behind the woman's wispy bangs are eyes as brilliant as sapphire, focusing intensely upon the leader of the Nobodies and the Freeshooter seated before her.

Averse in confirming his disbeliefs, The Freeshooter questions Xemnas, "Just who the heck is she, Saïx's sister or something?"

"I heard that," Saïx intrudes.

"Yeah, so is she? You two look hella alike, as if you share the same phenotypes," notes The Freeshooter in an amused, yet mocking tone in order to alleviate his denial.

"Very funny, Xigbar, very funny," Saïx spits. "I don't have any siblings."

Xemnas raises a hand into the air to signal silence and a call to his attention before the tension in the atmosphere becomes worse.

"Good tidings, friends," Xemnas blares. "Today has become another momentous day for us."

All around the room, the members react with commotion. Demyx adjusts his seat, Luxord leans back in his chair, and Xigbar simply sneers.

Regardless, the Superior resumes his speech. "It has come to my attention that we have at last found the missing link—a long lost chosen one of the Keyblade—to aid us in our operations."

Stirring erupts from the members again. Axel scratches his chin, Xaldin reshuffles his arms, Roxas scratches his head, and Saïx narrows his eyes.

"I implore for all of you to treat her well though, for she is a special case," Xemnas continues, a callous smile forming upon his lips. "Her heart is still intact, giving us the affirmative that we'll have endless things to study and discover from a complete being of her caliber." Xemnas's smile widens as he thinks to himself, _study and discover indeed._

"If she is a complete being, then why is she wearing our coat?" Xaldin interrogates as his eyes bore with ferocity onto the Keyblade's lost chosen one.

"It's a more convenient way for her to reach this room and the other parts of the castle that are accessible only via the Dark Corridors," Saïx answers. "It's impractical to have to summon one's armor all the time when one is only traversing around home base."

"Is that so?" questions Xaldin. He continues glaring at the Keyblade's chosen, his contempt for beings with emotions slightly seeping through his dull eyes.

The Superior raises his hand again. "Enough," he demands. Xaldin grunts and readjusts his seat, and Xemnas proceeds on speaking. "The situation is only temporary. Our new comrade can choose to wear whatever she wishes later on. However, I am pleased to announce that she has chosen to pledge her allegiance to us and wear the coat for the time being."

Xemnas looks downward at the stately woman that stands before him. Smirking, he averts his gaze from her to examine the two star-shaped trinkets that are clenched in his right hand, tightening his fingers around them before returning his attention to the woman.

"My friends, allow me to introduce to you an old friend of mine," Xemnas states. He leans forward in his seat and proclaims, "The being you all see here standing before your eyes"—a licentious look plastered his otherwise deadpan face—"goes by the lovely name of 'Aqua'."

Xigbar curls his fingers into a claw as his suspicions about the new comrade are cleared. _No way, there's just no way,_ he thinks appallingly.

"Aqua…" Roxas mouths quietly. The syllables roll off his tongue in a sluggish way, as if he is trying to examine them each individually for the slightest evidence of any hints to an erstwhile connection.

"Aqua. It's a pretty name," Demyx muses as he scratches his chin with his fingers. He has a vibe that he'll more likely be able to get along with her than he does with the evil witch, Larxene. He doesn't mind having another partner do the dirty work for him when it comes to completing missions.

"Well, luck be a lady tonight," Luxord remakrs. "Surely with another Keyblade wielder at hand, the process of gathering hearts will be sped up immensely."

"Another Keyblade wielder," Axel says to himself. _Hmm, could she have connections with the Hero?_

"Starting tomorrow, you're all assigned to aid Aqua around the castle and with introductory missions," Saïx announces.

The Superior briefly surveys the room for any more input from the members. No one made anymore comments, so he resumes speaking. "I put my trust in everyone's hands to make our guest feel welcome," he declares, and waves a hand into the air. "Meeting adjourned. You are all dismissed."

One by one, the Nobodies vanish into thin air. However, one of them—The Freeshooter—decides to linger around for a just a little longer.

"What now, Xigbar?" Xemnas asks.

"So, that Sweet Cheeks over there is the dudette that keeps you up all night? The babe of your dreams?" Xigbar says jokingly as he points his thumb towards Aqua. He knows all too well though that the 'friend' Xemnas sometimes chatters about down at the Chamber of Repose can be none other than Aqua.

"I need my solitude right now to converse with Aqua personally," Xemnas answers. "However, I've ordered Saïx to assign you and Aqua some special missions together."

The Freeshooter smirks. "Man, boss man, I'm so stoked to start messin' with Sweet Cheeks," he says with enthusiasm. _I just can't wait._ He casually salutes the Superior. "Looking forward to seeing what you have in store for me, Boss Man!" With that said, Xigbar vanishes from his throne with a lingering grin on his face.

Once Xigbar was gone, Xemnas carefully reexamines the two star-shaped trinkets that are clutched in his right hand before stowing them into his pockets. He looks back down towards Aqua again and notices that she's been keeping herself preoccupied by twiddling her thumbs together and playing with strands of her hair.

"Aqua," Xemnas hollers.

Aqua immediately snaps out of her preoccupied state and turns her head towards Xemnas. She doesn't say anything, but instead just breathes heavily and gazes at the Superior with stern eyes.

Xemnas merely smirks. He quickly scans her physique before disappearing from his high throne and reappearing in a flash in front of the Keyblade Master.

"Take off that coat," he commands.

Heart pounding and shoulders rising up and down, Aqua complies with hesitance and removes the thick article of clothing in such an unhurried pace that Xemnas can't help but feel his insides rage like fire from such a simple behavior. Just the way that Aqua unzips her coat and shrugs it off her smooth, bare shoulders to let it fall down and pool around her feet in such an unintentional, yet sensuous manner is enough to send wild thoughts flaring inside the Superior's shattered mind.

Smiling with satisfaction, Xemnas scrutinizes the statuesque woman with intense eyes, as if he is carefully analyzing and admiring a beautiful work of art at the same time.

The clothes Aqua usually wears haven't changed much, except for the fact that they seem to fit too snugly on her now due to vast physical changes from stepping out of the Realm of Darkness and back into the Realms of Light and In-Between. Xemnas inwardly smirks; it seems that Aqua will have to wear the Organization coat for the time being.

He continues observing the rest of the Keyblade Master: her whole appearance has changed drastically since that last time he encountered her in the dark realm. Nevertheless, Xemnas is quite pleased with the way Aqua looks now. Her form has matured into full-fledged womanhood, indicative of her hourglass curves and the new length added to her once short height. She is no longer two heads shorter than Xemnas; instead, she is now one head short. Her body is like that of a professional dancer, having the right balance of femininity and athleticism. From what Xemnas can make out of Aqua's tight clothing and what decent patch of skin she leaves bare, he can see that her muscular arms, torso, and legs are much more toned than how they appeared to be back then when Aqua was still trapped in the slow flow of time—all around, she is well-defined.

Xemnas can also see that Aqua's hair has grown long; it seems to be about the same length as his hair. It looks less layered now though, for those layered strands of hair have been outgrown by strands of new hair that emerged from the tip of her head.

Aqua's face remains nearly unchanged, though. The slightest differences that Xemnas can distinguish are that her face lost some of the fatty tissue once indicative of adolescent youth; her cheeks and jawline are a bit more defined now. However, the rest of her facial features still retain some of that youth: her cheeks and plump lips are as rosy as ever, her ivory complexion is as smooth as porcelain, and her luscious eyelashes, long and voluminous, bat at the Superior with such gullibility.

Her sapphire eyes—although worn but untainted by the darkness—shine with such fierce brilliance, perfectly unveiling her never waiving strength of heart. Indeed, she has been through a lot during her years of wandering alone in the Realm of Darkness. Truly is she a Keyblade Master, for she's been able to defend herself from the hordes of Heartless that naturally roam the dark realm for so long.

Xemnas places his heavy hands on Aqua's shoulders and lightly brushes the soft skin, his chilling traces sending tingles down her spine. He then let his hands freely roam down her arms and waist, his delicate, tempting touches sending even more chills down the statuesque woman's spine.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Aqua asks breathlessly as she feels the sensations excite her nerves.

Xemnas moves his hands toward Aqua's lower backside and sensuously grazes the area, causing Aqua to shiver and breathe quickly again before snaking his entire arms around her waist and pulling her close to his body.

"It's been a long time…my friend," Xemnas voices with a faint tinge of bitter-sweetness in his deep voice.

Aqua, still speechless from the Superior's breathtaking touches, doesn't say anything. She just gazes at him, keenly watching his carnal, amber eyes as they invade her soul.

She doesn't see those malicious amber eyes, though. Instead, what she sees are eyes as blue as hers, eyes that radiate sympathy, and a face—a pale face, so familiar and long gone but forever etched into her memory—filled with tenderness.

"T-Terra…" Aqua pants. She lifts her twitching hands, shaken from the sensory overload, towards Xemnas's face, gingerly cupping the sides of his cheeks with her shaky hands. It takes a while to sink into Aqua's mind on what is happening and what she is experiencing, and once it registered into her head on just what's going on, she feels overwhelming emotions flood throughout her entire being that she begins to break down and pour endless streams of tears from her eyes.

"It's you…it's really you," Aqua cries. She lets go of Xemnas's face, wraps her arms around his torso, and buries her face in his chest as she continues to sob.

Xemnas just remains silent, tending to her with soft touches and a warm embrace as his corrupt eyes watch her with a strange mixture of cruelty and gentleness.

At last, at long last, Aqua is here with him. She will never be alone ever again, for Xemnas will make sure that she never forgets him after tonight—not that she's ever forgotten him—at least what he used to be and what she still thinks he is. No—Instead, Xemnas will make sure that Aqua remembers the sinner behind his saintly façade. He is destined to be her 'guardian angel'—her guide to 'salvation'—in this world of madness. He is the man that fate has decreed and destined to be all that Aqua will need. He can give everything she desires, and she can give him all he needs. He will make it clear and heed to her that he is the man with whom she'll share heaven…or hell.

"Together at last," Xemnas declares in a soft tone. Whether she likes it or not, Aqua will never be alone. The Superior insolently smiles at that thought and leers at the weeping Aqua. _After tonight, you will never be alone._

After a long moment of silence sans for the dying sounds of Aqua's sobs, the Keyblade Master finally speaks up. "…You have no heart beat."

"It's a complicated story," Xemnas states in a simple manner.

Aqua compassionately places a hand over his chest; she doesn't understand what went wrong, but she'll make sure of it that she'll help Terra in any way. "Also, what is Braig doing here? And Ven? Why is he here? I thought I kept him safe in the chamber."

Xemnas chuckles at Aqua's silly questions. _Chamber…finally, the chamber…_ He simpers at her before responding. "I knew you would have questions," he answers. "After roaming that dark realm as a lone ranger for so long, it's only natural that you will have doubts."

Aqua, no longer weeping, wipes her watery eyes clean and looks up at Xemnas. She could have sworn that she saw a flash of Master Xehanort in his eyes, but then it wasn't exactly the strange master…it was more like some younger version of him instead. What's even stranger was that young man oddly looked similar to the Terra she once laughed and cried with before he succumbed to the darkness.

Aqua sighs; she doesn't understand at all, and such imagery confuses and slightly frightens her. Perhaps all the darkness from the dark realm has gotten to her that she's beginning to lose her mind.

"I'm tired, Terra," she says. "Just so tired from fighting for so long that it's beginning to take a toll on my well-being."

The Superior simpers at Aqua once more before releasing her from his embrace. He summons a dark portal and commands, "We're exiting out of here via the Corridors of Darkness. Wear that coat to conceal yourself from the darkness, and come to my lair. There, I will explain everything to you and also give you rest."

Aqua obeys and retrieves her Organization coat from the floor. She covers herself with the coat and readjusts it by smoothing out the wrinkles. After she finished fixing herself, she makes a step towards the dark portal, but stops in her tracks just as she is about to set afoot on the boundary that divides the dark atmosphere with the light one. She turns her head towards Xemnas and looks at him with reluctance.

"After you, my dear," the Superior says courteously.

The Keyblade master chuckles and darts a coy expression at him. "Still a gentleman after all these years?"

Xemnas raises an eyebrow at her, and he continues to watch her as she grins widely at him. Casually, she turns on her heel, allowing him to see her hands clasped together behind her back, before she begins walking at a leisurely pace down the dark corridor. Smirking, Xemnas follows after her and closes the dark gateway behind him. _Indeed, after tonight, my little love, you will never…be…alone._

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**Author's notes: **If anyone here has oppositions to the way I write the Xemnas/Aqua pairing, well, the only way I can sanely ship the pairing is to write the MX part of Xemnas as younger version of himself (the one that you see standing on the shores of Destiny Islands at the beginning of BBS) instead of the old gramps version. I mean, pairing Aqua up with a creepy old man just gives me the creeps (plus MX wanted to be young again anyway, so...). I'm fine with shipping her with any form of Xehanort BUT the old!Master Xehanort form.

I notice that XemAqua writers usually describe Aqua the way she was back in BBS. Personally, I like imagining her in her more matured form whenever I write about her and draw her with Xemnas. It just seems more logical to me that she'd return to the RoL in her correct, aged form (plus I think she looks pretty with long hair).

Also, this is my first time ever writing Xemnas (or any Org. member for that matter), so I'm not sure if I did well with writing their characters. Hopefully they don't sound OOC, especially Xemnas because he was the most difficult to write out of all of them.

I'm also a bit worried with plot continuities. I haven't played 358/2 Days in ages (sorry, but I was bored to tears by it and only finished it halfway), so I'm not sure about some things. Yeah, there might be some plot discrepancies that I don't notice.

…I also haven't completely finished Aqua's storyline yet. X.x I know, I know, it's an abomination, but I'm almost done! I'm at Neverland Ranch right now lol.

So yeah, reviews are appreciated. :)


	2. Complicated

**Author's note: **This chapter is written in epistolary format. I wanted to try something different this time and go for the KH character journals/secret reports style of story telling.

Theme No. 2: Complicated

**Xemnas's Journal  
**-.-.-.-.-Day 88: Her-.-.-.-.-

The plan to enlist Aqua amongst our ranks was more of an improvisation than a well thought-out strategy. Regardless, she fits rather perfectly into the grand scheme of things. Collection of hearts has progressed significantly thanks to her mastery of the Keyblade. She is doing fairly well and also seems quite at home with the rest of the members here in the castle. However, she appears to have a peculiar air about Xion and Roxas, and sometimes runs into quarrels with Xigbar.

Speaking of Xion and Roxas, they have also been behaving perfectly according to plan. It'd be best if I let them run lose and do as they please, especially in regards to Aqua.

In fact, I've been hearing a lot lately of various, suspicious schemes running amok lately. Half of these rumors appeared to have disintegrated after the events of the Castle Oblivion research facility's demise. The other half...I know who amongst us keeps and spreads such hearsay; I know who amongst us intends to betray me. Ignorant fools, do they not think that I truly know what is happening around here? They can go ahead and continue to play their little games, for in the end, it will all be worthless. They do not see that only my grand plan will emerge victorious in the end. The lot of them; they are just pawns trapped in this deadly gambit of mine.

The puzzle pieces may not fit now, and this hazard game of chess may seem complicated to them, but surely enough, all will soon discover the pieces for themselves and realize how they'll be defeated by the checkmate.

I will let the puppet and Roxas run free…for now. In doing so, they will come to the summit where realization about their actions, beliefs, and concerns with their identities will cause them to collide into each other in an explosion of epiphanies. Their ultimate end will result in the resurrection of _him_. And surely enough, with Aqua in hand, I will have an easier time now in acquiring the Chamber of Awakening.

Speaking of Aqua…Aqua…

.

.

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Her.

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.

.

.

My thoughts are hazy, but I notice that the more I become close to her, the more I am able to easily recollect my memories. They have been coming back slowly, piece by piece, to the recesses of my mind. They are still utterly nebulous though, and I am able to only see them in flashes during sleep and wake. However, the memories in my dreams are highly vivid to the point where I am now interrupted regularly by these snarls of memories. I find myself constantly waking up in the middle of the night with beads of sweat rolling down my forehead, and my logic at a loss as to how to react towards them.

What's more intriguing though, is how these certain, vivid memories create this sense of very strong, lingering sentiments within me. It is as if the ability to feel emotions is there…almost there. Memories of how it's like to feel other emotions are coming back to me greater than ever, especially the ones which are in particular, seemingly intimate.

They are complex, these things. To remember even the most intense feelings—all coming from the most vivid memories—come from memories of her.

Aqua.

She is an interesting being.

In analyzing these peculiar memories, I've come to the conclusion that I must have shared something special with her before.

Very interesting, indeed.

I must find out what these memories mean, and what significance they have in discovering my past.

And I find such a task to be absolutely satisfying, for it meant that I get to pay Aqua another personal visit to her room.

* * *

**Aqua's Diary**

-.-.-.-.-Day 88: I Don't Understand-.-.-.-.-

I seem to be getting better at this whole journaling thing that Saïx told me to keep and do. I'm usually not one to write out my personal thoughts on paper, but I actually find it to be really beneficial. It helps keep my head clear, and it helps me on venting, too.

Hmm.

How to start today's journal entry.

So much has happened since I first got here. I'm finally back together again with Terra, and it just fills my heart with so much happiness and joy. Now all I need to do is save Ven.

It's funny, because there's a kid here that looks exactly like him. At first I thought it was him, and I could have sworn that it was, but then…it isn't. I didn't understand at first, but I think after discovering more about some things, I think I sort of get it now. That little boy I met back on Destiny Islands is keeping Ventus's heart safe within his own heart. And somehow, that manifested into a living, breathing human being.

Except that he's not human. Well, he is—I mean—he's just not exactly human. Uhmm—more like he's almost human, but one that's just missing his heart.

So I guess Roxas isn't real then…? Thinking about it, I kind of find that to be pretty sad, because the more time I spend with him, the more I find myself becoming attached to him. And yet, I'm also beginning to have doubts about him, too. It's as if he were a part of Ventus that broke away and began functioning independently. Kind of like an amoeba, like how amoebas multiply into copies of themselves…something along those lines. That's what Vexen told me, but I still don't fully understand.

Terra told me that he lost the ability to feel emotions ever since becoming a Nobody. So the same should apply for the rest of the Nobodies, but with Roxas, he seems to be rather lost…the same can be said for Xion as well. I wonder if this all has to do with Ven's heart having connections with Sora's.

Hmmmmph. I find myself having sympathy for Roxas. He wants to be his own kid. I feel so sorry for him, but eventually I'll have to return him to his other half in order to wake Ven up. He did have questions about being real after all…

Huuuuuuuuuuuhh. This all so complicated; it hurts my head just even trying to write them down.

Speaking of complicated, I find Terra to be exactly just that. There are days where I think I get him, where I think I almost get him—until he starts acting strange again. And then there are days where he's just absolutely ambiguous about everything. I think he's just trying to find himself, just like how Ven—Roxas, I mean—is trying to find himself.

Gee, it must be really terrible to exist in this realm with only vague notions on how it's like to have emotions. Well, at least Roxas is exhibiting something. He even seems genuine about it himself, but then again I guess that kind of has to do with him having the broken half of Ven's heart within him.

Terra, on the other hand…

…The only emotions he remembers clearly are anger and hate.

But that's what darkness is.

Terra…

…There's more to life than just that, and you know it. I wish you can enjoy life with me to its fullest. Please, don't ever let the darkness get to you again.

I know you can make it, I believe in you.

I'll do whatever it takes to help you, because it breaks my heart to see you like this.

I

.

.

.

.

Ahh, I just wet my diary's pages with tears.

.

.

.

.

.

I feel for you, so much it hurts—I don't know if I can ever really say it out loud to you. I probably will never anyway since you can't feel, but I wish you could, because…

.

.

.

because…

.

.

.

.

…you're so dead, just seeing you like this. It hurts…to see you exist like this.

* * *

**Moar author's notes:** Okay, I hope this chapter was plot consistent with 358/2 Days, because I absolutely have no sense of time when it comes to playing this game. I could care less on exactly what day each event happened since there's just so many of them. And I still haven't finished playing Days (the game bores me to death). -.-" But hey, at least I finally finished Aqua's story in Birth by Sleep and unlocked Final Episode! :D

/but failed for the 9000th time on defeating Mysterious Figure, despite downloading a super gamesave on and using that person's level 99 Aqua save file to beat Mysterious Figure. lololol OTL

_Karma's Slave:_ Thanks for reviewing!

_kingdomhearts222:_ lol I see wut you did thar. e.e Thanks for reviewing!

_AquaStormXIV:_ I already answered your review in a PM, but thanks again for reviewing!

_No Heart's Throne:_ Thanks! I hope you stick around for the next 98 chapters. ;D

_zenbon zakura:_ I'm actually quite surprised that I've already gotten the second chapter up. Actually, I was looking over the list of themes, and for some of them, they're easy to do and I've already planned out what to write for them, but for the rest, it seems hard to do that right now. I guess inspiration and brainstorming will have to hit me at some other time. And some of the themes seem to have absolutely no relevance to Kingdom Hearts whatsoever (e.g. "Umbrella". wtf would Xemnas do with an umbrella?). Oh well, I'll think of a way around them. ;D

_Nirianne:_ Thank you for your review! Yeah, I didn't even know about the potential of Xemnas/Aqua either until I saw this Aqunort fan club over at the Kingdom Hearts Insider forums. At first I was like, "huh!" and then I began lurking around that fan club. So now I'm all like, "woah, lots of potential angst, drama and tragedy if Aqua and Xemnas were to meet!" ;.; I hope that they do encounter each other in Birth by Sleep -Volume Two-.

_WhiteFoxNinja:_ Thank you! Yeah, I was I bit worried because I want readers to know that everything that's happening in this fan fic is happening right now. In fact I just read this discussion of past tense vs. present tense here on and I just wasn't sure which route to take. I've only seen present tense done well if the story is written in first person, especialy since we are so used to blogging about our lives in present tense.

_Temari-Desert-Storm:_ Thank you for your review! It was very helpful since I've been stressing out about my writing and characterization for a while now (I haven't written fan fic in ages, and this is like my second time writing a fan fic after a long time of not doing so). Oh, I have a lot in store for Xigbar in later chapters. ;D Because yes, the more that Xemnas gets closer to Aqua, the more that spells out big trouble for Xigbar unless he does something to prevent that from happening before it's too late.


	3. Making History

Theme No. 3: Making History

It is nighttime in the World That Never Was. In fact, it is always night in the World That Never Was. The only indicator of day in this barren world are the digital clocks scattered all over the indoors of The Castle That Never Was.

Xemnas, wide awake from a disturbing dream, sits up from his supine position on his king-sized bed and observes the alarm clock that's placed on a nightstand next to his bed: the hour is now three-hundred and fifty-eight minutes. This is the second time this night that his sleep cycle has been interrupted.

The sleep-deprived Superior palms his face and begins rubbing his temples. The dreams in his sleep are getting stranger every night, and he doesn't know what to make of them. He can't even think clearly right now, for too much has happened in one night. He would have to examine and interpret his dreams later in the day when he is feeling more refreshed.

Xemnas exhales a strained breath; the clearest vision of his dream is left to linger in his mind, allowing him to easily recollect it. He dreamt of a man, a man who was well off into his years and one that radiated the essence of wisdom. He couldn't remember exactly how the wise old man's face looked like though, for the man disappeared into bursts of light before Xemnas could have said or done anything.

_What does it all mean?_ Xemnas thinks to himself. First, he dreams about his past life as an apprentice to Ansem the Wise. Now, he dreams about a strange man that seems so uncannily recognizable to him and yet, he can't place a finger as to who the man is. Sometimes, Xemnas wonders if his dreams are even dreams at all, for they appear to be all too real to him, as if his subconscious dares to blur the line between dream and reality by building his dream world from fragments of memories.

The Superior releases his palms away from his forehead and returns to laying in supine position. Perhaps he'll just let whoever is the architect of his dream world take over as he, the dreamer, dives deeper into the dream layers to unlock the secrets stored away in the collective unconscious of his mind. Perhaps if he can manage to sustain such a deep dive into hazardous territory, then he might be able to uncover more about his past life, the life he had—was supposed to have—before he entered apprenticeship with Ansem the Wise.

Xemnas's eyelids are getting heavy, causing him to stop his train-of-thought and clear his mind before reentering sleep mode. He exhales one last breath and slowly closes his eyes as he drifts off to slumber again, to the phantasmagoric reverie that all so unreservedly welcomes him.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_Xemnas finds himself situated upon the shores of an island as he watches the setting sun sink into the ocean's horizon. He looks down and examines his hands; sun kissed but seemingly untouched by age, he lightly rubs them against each other to feel their softness._

_The tanned youth curls his toes that are caged inside his onyx boots while rubbing the sand underneath them with the heel of his boots. The place where he currently stands has become eerily memorable to him; this is where his dreams constantly take him whenever he enters the deeper realms of slumber._

_If the place has an actual name, Xemnas doesn't know or can't remember what it is. All he knows for sure is that the sandy land where he stands upon now always touches the sea—they are the shores of his subconscious, the meeting between his two states of mind—the conscious and unconscious—with the solid earth symbolizing the rational and mental processes of himself and the water signifying the irrational, unsteady, and emotional ones._

_Tch. As if he has emotions. But then again, Xemnas's dreams are the only time and place where he can feel emotions. Here, on the meeting place of the two worlds—the terra firma and the aqua—is where he experiences the transition between the material and spiritual aspects of his being—the place, the only place where he can finally have wholeness, if only for a small window of time._

_Xemnas has an inkling feeling that there is something within his unconscious that the conscious mind needs to acknowledge. He looks out towards the ocean and scrutinizes the state of it: the once calm waters now bring about high tides that flood the soles of his boots. His mind senses unknown and major changes that are about to occur in the future._

_The dreamer leaves the beach and marches inland to seek shelter and safety. Once he landed a many good paces onto the grassy border, he turns around to view the shores of his subconscious one last time: something tells him that these shores are suggesting of a return to what is familiar to him. Soothingly, Xemnas whispers to them, "I must leave you and remake history."_

_Suddenly, the waters become extremely violent, rushing even further inland and causing themselves to summon a great tidal wave upon the land. The tsunami is so colossal that it engulfs the entire island and swallows every entity in its path, leaving no single soul alive—not even Xemnas._

_The islander catches himself caught in the wrath of the sea, unable to breathe from the lack of oxygen in his lungs. This causes him to swiftly drown, and he passes away…_

_…only to find himself washed ashore onto an outlandish area of some sorts. Surprised that he's still alive and kicking, Xemnas rises from his sprawled position on the floor and takes in his surroundings. The area looks awfully recognizable, and he tries to place a finger on just who it belongs to, for the area appears to be a study. However, it definitely isn't Vexen's study. No—the place looks vastly different from that poor unfortunate soul's study—it is Ansem the Wise's study, the place that Xemnas took over for himself several years ago when he ventured to betray against that old man of his._

_A finger suddenly taps the shoulder of the former apprentice. He turns around to see where it's coming from: it is from Xigbar—no—it is from Braig. He raises his eyebrows at his fellow ex-apprentice but says nothing._

_"Yo doc, what are you doing just standing around here? C'mon, I already got everything set up for you. The test subjects have been drugged and are ready to go," Braig utters. He then turns around and starts exiting the area, so Xemnas, still somewhat lost on where to go and what to do, simply pursues Braig in his tracks._

_They exit the study and begin walking down a long, dimly lit, convoluted corridor, the sounds of their footsteps reverberating against the metal walls. Whilst walking towards their destination, Xemnas looks down at his hands again and sees that they haven't changed much in appearance. He also notices that his body is cloaked in a lab coat; this is becoming all too disconcerting to him._

_They have reached the end of the corridor and enter into a nearly empty circular great hall lined with many doors. Braig enters one on his right, and Xemnas follows suit. The door gives way into another long, winding corridor, and the duo make their journey down the convoluted path again._

_Silence shrouds them as they stroll towards the distant end of the hallway. Xemnas, feeling unease with only the echoing sounds of their footsteps, breaks the silence and asks his peer, "I need a brief review of our assignment again."_

_"Ah, forgetting already?" Braig says. He then states in a flippant manner, "Dude, I didn't know that amnesia of yours would hit you so hard."_

_Xemnas doesn't say anything._

_Braig, upon noticing his teammate's unresponsiveness, grins and heavily slaps a hand onto his shoulder. "Chillax, man. I've got your back. Alright, so you know those two boys we caught snooping around the labs? Well, they got what they deserve for meddling. Aeleus gave them a bit of a sedative and locked them up down at the fish rows in the basement. Then after that, we got the labs cleaned up, gave the boys dose of gym candy and angel dust—"_

_"Excuse me?" Xemnas inquires. Sometimes, he has a hard time understanding Braig's surfer lingo and doesn't understand why he can't just use the jargon of scientific and medical professionals like the rest of the apprentices here in this castle use when communicating with one another. For goodness' sake, Braig is an apprentice after all—or more like an ex-apprentice—but still, to speak in that relaxed and very informal tone of his is not only annoying, but unprofessional as well._

_"You know, anabolic steroids and PCP—"_

_"You gave them what!?"_

_"Oh no, it wasn't me. It was Even's idea to inject into them those illegal drugs."_

_Xemnas halts his walk. "What is the amount of dosage that Even injected into the boys?"_

_Braig, seeing that Xemnas hasn't taken a step, also halts his walk. "For the 'roids…eh, twenty milligrams of methoandrostenolone, given orally of course."_

_"And the phencyclidine?"_

_"Eh…like, zero point zero-zero-two milligrams per kilograms of phencyclidine, given intravenously."_

_Xemnas gradually resumes walking. "And they have been released from their dungeon cells?"_

_Braig gapes at his associate for a moment and trails him from behind, quickly catching up to him until they are striding side-by-side of each other. "Well, yeah. But like, we had to quickly put them into straitjacket before the drugs' effects started acting in their systems, or else they'll go like, crazy—and I mean crazy! Aeleus and Dilan carried them over to one of the test sites, and halfway down their trek, the Smurfy-looking kid began acting like a raged lunatic—like, literally! It would have been worse had it not been for keeping him secured inside a strait-waistcoat."_

_"Interesting…" Xemnas muses._

_Braig grins and lets out a small chuckle. "Just wait 'til you see what's next. I ordered some weapons from the moogles' shop and gave one each to the boys. Oh, and I requested for one of the weapons to at least simulate the appearance of the χ-blade, but I don't think the moogles got it. Then again, that thing's ancient, so of course they wouldn't understand. The piece of synthesized crap looks more like an ugly club-looking thing than a mighty keyblade claymore."_

_Xemnas narrows his eyes at Braig. "You plan on having the test subjects simulate the Keyblade War?"_

_Braig raises his eyebrows in response. "Well, that was your thesis all along, right? Like, I mean, all we gotta do is just lock the boys up in the test centre, release them from their straitjackets, toss them the weapons, and have them fight each other to death in their doped states. Then the rest of us just all sit back, relax, grab some popcorn and enjoy the show!"_

_Xemnas, with eyes still narrowed, begins tugging at the corner of his lips into a frown. "But something about that just doesn't seem precise…as if something else is still missing from the equation."_

_"Huh? Oh yeah! Right, the whole one-heart-of-darkness and one-of-light thing, right? Okay, right right. Yeah, I got that one fixed. Here." Braig pulls out a small, narrow, white plastic box from his pocket and tosses it to Xemnas._

_Xemnas opens the box, and upon seeing its content, questions his colleague, "A scalpel? What for?"_

_"To create the mark of the χ-blade, of course!"_

_Xemnas, staring at Braig, declares, "You mean…" he lets his words trail off as he allows his mind to let every reasoning and understanding of his thesis sink in._

_Braig merely smirks. "You know that bluebell boy, Isa? He shows more darkness potential out of the two. I can see it in his eyes—and ears."_

_Xemnas nods his head in affirmation. "I see…"_

_Braig, still smirking, exhales a laugh and says, "Just use that knife and brand that pretty boy's face with the χ mark. Surely the pain of it all will unleash a great amount of darkness from within him." He abruptly stops in his tracks as he notices that they have at last reached their destination. Before Braig can open the door leading to the inside of the test centre, he looks at his partner-in-crime one more time and proclaims, "Take that final step, Xehanort, and watch history repeat itself. History is already in the making with what we've got. Just look at everything we've done so far…now we can see for ourselves this great clash of light and darkness. And then history, as we know it, will be ours."_

_Then, just as Braig is about to open the door, a tremor emits from beneath his and Xemnas's feet._

_"Wha-what—earthquake?" Xemnas howls._

_The rumble of the quake causes Xemnas to lose balance. However, he sees Braig frozen like a statue in his spot and is startled as to why he is not moving at all. Before Xemnas can even deliberate upon that, the floor beneath him cracks wide open and disperses into several pieces of falling debris. He spots nothing but pitch black darkness underneath him. Suddenly, his whole body follows suit of the falling debris, causing him to lose his equilibrium once more. Disoriented from his plummeting and from the strange and sudden change in the environment, Xemnas, falling prone, attempts to flip his body over to supine position and catch a view of the ceiling. He successfully does so and witnesses the ceiling and the walls that surround it crumble away into the dark abyss. The entire place is collapsing—collapsing into oblivion, until nothing but complete darkness surrounds Xemnas…_

_…the darkness crossfades into another dreamscape, and Xemnas tumbles hard onto a soft and grassy surface. Feeling the impact of the hit, he lay there semi-unconscious and in pain._

_"Ow…" he cries in a strangled voice._

_His chest, although still in agony from the sting of the blow, voluntarily jolts, his eyes simultaneously widening in surprise at the sound of his voice._

_It sounds so young, even younger than what he's used to whenever he visits the shores of his subconscious. It's also unlike him to say something as childish as 'ow' after receiving massive damage from a hit._

_"Aw, don't tell me you're giving up now."_

_Xemnas's ears perk up from the noise of the peculiar voice; it sounds feminine and youthful as well._

_"Out cold already? Alright then, that means I win again!"_

_Xemnas attempts to move his head around to see where the voice is coming from, but to no avail. He winces from the pain; his entire body is aching too much for it to do anything._

_"Hmm…? You need help getting up? Okay, here."_

_A surge of energy unexpectedly courses through the fallen dreamer's veins as an aura of green light surrounds him. He can feel the soreness rapidly subsiding away, and soon enough, the green aura disappears, leaving him re-energized._

_Finally being able to move his body with ease, Xemnas arises from the ground and turns around to know once and all where that girly, juvenile voice is coming from and just as to whom it belongs to._

_Dumbfounded from the sight of the source, Xemnas gapes and senselessly asks, "…Who are you?"_

_The source scrunches her face in response to Xemnas's uncouth question. "Did I really hit you that hard to turn you into a scatterbrain?" She then sighs. "I'm sorry. Anyway…I'm Aqua, you know, your playmate?"_

_Xemnas knits his eyebrows together and narrows his eyes. Aqua looks greatly different than from what he is accustomed to seeing her as. She doesn't look like the Aqua that currently resides in his castle, nor does she look like the Aqua that she usually appears as in his dreams. No—this Aqua is young, very young—she looks to be in her middle childhood years. Her outfit looks different as well: it isn't the attire that Xemnas normally sees her wear either in dream or reality. Instead, she is wearing a baby blue-colored baby doll dress of some sorts and white sandals._

_He observes her picking up a wooden keyblade from the ground that was lying next to where he was sprawled all over just moments ago and hands it over to him._

_Xemnas, grabbing the keyblade in reluctance, awkwardly stares at it. He can't think of anything to say as he is still stunned from what just happened to him. Having a firm grasp around the handle of the keyblade, he also notices that his clenched hand is even more boyish than before and lighter in skin color as well. His clothing changed, too; he no longer wears the white coat of the apprentices, but now wears the fashion of the distinctive Keyblade Apprentice._

_Aqua, eyeing Xemnas's every movement, shakes her head and giggles in amusement. "That's your training keyblade, remember? Or what you call it—your precious 'Terrablade'." More giggles erupt from the little girl's mouth._

_"Hey," Xemnas yells in an irritated way. He examines the wooden keyblade again; he's seen this blade a couple of times before. It shows up every once in a while whenever he's a preteen Terra or an early adolescent Terra in his dreams._

_Aqua, simply chuckling, turns around and begins sauntering over to the far end of the gaslamp-lit field, where it breaks off into a cliff edge. She takes a seat on the edge._

_The sounds of Aqua's trailing laughter ring through Xemnas's ears, inciting him and inviting him to come over and simply enjoy the starry night with her. So, carrying the Terrablade with him, he strolls over to where the little blue-clad girl is sitting and seats himself right next to her._

_They sit there, side-by-side, gazing at the evening landscape in solitude. The moon and stars overhead cast a magnificent glow upon the reflection of the lake's surface beneath them, causing the lake to look as if the whole wide universe is just right there, underneath their dangling little feet, presented exclusively for theirs to reach and keep._

_"Hey, Terra?" Aqua asks._

_"Yeah?" Xemnas replies._

_"So, suppose we finally get to go travel to another world. What would you do there?"_

_Xemnas puts his Terrablade down on the grass and crosses his arms, lost in thought. "Well, I dunno…I haven't really thought about it much." He shrugs his shoulders. "I guess just do what the Keyblade Masters do. Ya know, become strong, protect people and stuff?"_

_Aqua smiles and looks up at the sky. "Yeah, there's that, too. But I think it would also be nice if we can vacation there. I wonder what nice things other worlds would have…"_

_Xemnas, his idealism quickly creeping up to him, can't help but grin. He knows the answer. "I know what they'd have," he announces in a buoyant attitude. He then starts listing all the things he can think of from the top of his head on what a whole new world would have. "Fireworks, balloons, stickers, candy, ice cream, popcorn, lots of cool toys, long waterslides, super big playgrounds, the biggest bouncy houses you'll ever see—"_

_Aqua, giggling at all the things that Xemnas is listing, remarks, "You sure dream big."_

_Xemnas pouts. "Well, who said that worlds can't have those things? Or don't have them?"_

_"I didn't mean that, silly. I mean, yeah, I think those are pretty nice, too. I'd like to see them for myself someday."_

_Suddenly, realization dawns upon Xemnas. Standing up from his seated position, he retrieves his Terrablade from the ground and points it towards the starry lake._

_"I know what I'll do," he announces. "I'll travel across the universe, protecting people along the way. And then I'm gonna go find that world, whatever world has all those cool stuff, and rule over it as Master!"_

_Aqua giggles again. "But what if there's no world like that?"_

_Xemnas lowers his Terrablade to his side and raises an eyebrow at her. "Well, we won't know unless we find out, right? That's why we need to go out there and find out."_

_"Okay, but what I'm saying is that we also still have this world too, ya know. I dunno, I'm fine just staying here with you and father."_

_Xemnas smiles wryly at her. "Well yeah, but just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. That's why I have to go." With an expression of determination on his face, Xemnas looks up at the night sky, raises his Terrablade towards it, and declares, "I'm gonna go out there and make history!"_

_Aqua scrunches her face and crosses her arms in reaction. "Hey, you're gonna leave without me?"_

_Xemnas looks down at her. "Naw, you can come, too, of course." He then lowers his Terrablade to his side again and resumes gazing at the lustrous, evening landscape, intensely examining every detail of it: images of broken light which dance before him like a million eyes across the surface of the starry lake, its reflection of the heavenly bodies calmly caressing and brightly illuminating the edges and shadows of the towering earth that occupy parts of the lake; how the presentation of the million worlds on the water's reflection are just right there for them to explore; how the terra firma meets the aqua on this night of seclusion…just the beauty of it all gives Xemnas warm feelings and waves of joy._

_With this new epiphany in mind, Xemnas beams and proclaims, "You and me, we'll go across the universe."_

_Aqua, smiling affectionately at her best friend's proclamation, asks, "And make history along the way, too, right?"_

_Xemnas nods his head in affirmation and answers with optimism, "We'll go together."_

* * *

**Author's notes and responses: **Holy crap the metaphors that litter this entire thing. Can you tell that this chapter has been inspired by the _Inception_ film? LOL (and perhaps a bit of The Beatles's "Across the Universe" song as well…haha IDK. I don't know. IDEK. I don't even know. I just had it playing in the background on repeat while typing up this fan fic).

/Nothing's gonna change Terra's world…  
Nothin's gonna change his world~

Little kiddy!Aqua's outfit—yeah, I totally ripped that off from little kiddy!Kairi. I couldn't think of anything for little kiddy!Aqua to wear, so I just smooched off of Kairia's outfit instead lol. Little kiddy!Terra, on the other hand, wears something similar to what he wears in BBS, except without the armor equipment and without the thousand belts, buckles, and zippers that plague his outfit (I get tired of Nomura's belts/buckles/zippers fetish whenever it comes to drawing fan art of his characters).

/In fact, props to all of you who were able to notice the subtle Sora-Riku-Kairi trio references.

_No Heart's Throne:_ Thanks for continuing to stick around!

_Temari-Desert-Storm:_ Thanks! Yeah, there might be an exploration of some of Master Xehanort's memories as well in later chapters. I just gotta think of how that old creep's youngin' days was like back then.

_MonMonCandie:_ Thanks! Yeah, I used to think that Xemnas/Aqua was a crack pairing until I played Birth by Sleep. XD;; This is a totally legit pairing; I wish that upcoming not-a-mystery-game-anymore, "Birth by Sleep -Volume Two-" would touch upon this somehow, like have Aqua encounter Xemnas in the Realm of Darkness or something.

_zenbon zakura:_ lol he's slowly getting there...

_AquaStormXIV: _Nope, not all of my chapters will be in epistolary format; only certain ones will be. :) I have however, seen epstolary format done well in portray events as they happen. A classic example of this is Bram Stoker's _Dracula. _But it only works well if the journal entries are super long, which I don't think is appropriate much for Kingdom Hearts (most of the characters' entries don't even go past a full page). Thanks for reviewing!

_WhiteFoxNinja: _Yeah, I think Aqua is the type that is more likely to be open about her feelings on paper than just blurting it out loud. I mean she might be able to finally express how she truly feels to 'Terra' one day, maybe...it'd make her life a hell lot easier if the 'Terra' she's with is actually Terra. And who knows? Perhaps Aqua would show Xemmy what the heck all these lost emotions are someday. ;D Thanks for reviewing!

I don't know what else to say except that R & R is always appreciated!


	4. Rivalry

Theme No. 4: Rivalry

The Luna Diviner stands still as he focuses his concentration on the heart-shaped moon. He can sense change in the air, and it isn't good. He sighs as thoughts flood his mind; thoughts about his work, his plans, but most notably, his standing with Axel. He can see him changing and their supposed clandestine collaboration crumbling away as that magnificent bastard drifts away from him and closer to The Key of Destiny.

What's to become of their plan now that Axel has called it quits? Has everything they've done so far for each other been nothing but a vain ambition? Whatever happened to that desire to stop at nothing until they have made sure that they've truly gotten their hearts back?

It's all slipping away now. This type of change isn't good at all, and Saïx can see another change looming on the horizon. He can see it because not only has Axel changed, but Xemnas has as well. He can see The Superior of the In-Between becoming ever so closer to the Keyblade Master. His actions and behaviors are becoming radically different by the day, much like how Axel's are. And it is all because both have flown too close to the flame that is the heart of the Keyblade Master and the damaged heart of the Key of Destiny.

It's not fair. It's not fair at all. The Luna Diviner doesn't understand why _they_ get at least even a single drop of that sweet nectar of emotions, while he is left to rot in the dark along with his fruitless agendas. He wonders as to what he is doing wrong, what is causing him to implement such fallible schemes and sustain such poor maintenance of his alliances.

And speaking of the Keyblade Master, whatever happened to his and Axel's plan of using Aqua to their advantage? Hell, whatever happened to their plan of using the rest of the Keyblade wielders to their advantage? What ever happened to that damn plan to overthrow Xemnas in secret?

Now it's all just a mess. Axel absolutely refuses to partake in any sort of scheming with Saïx any longer. Fine then, if that's what he wants, then that's what he gets. Saïx will just have to do this alone. He'll find a way, somehow, to get this all to work. So fine then, he'll just continue to drag his feet and march onward on his own, determined to get his heart back first before either the Superior or the Flurry of Dancing flames do. He'll show them. Oh, he'll show them all right.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_My goodness man, he's turning into a sap by the minute,_ thinks The Freeshooter as he eats his dinner in dread while forced to watch the Superior chit-chat ever so heartily with the Keyblade Master that sits to the Superior's right.

All members of the Organization plus Aqua are currently seated at a round table, and all have been eating their meals in awkward silence as they watch and listen to Xemnas chat and have a hearty meal with Aqua. This perhaps has been the most uncomfortable dinner they've all had together, for many of them have been fidgeting and emitting nervous sideways glances as they gawk at the appalling sight before them.

"And then there was this time where I met this very sweet gentleman..."

Xigbar could have sworn he heard even the tiniest bit of snickers and, Kingdom Hearts forbid—caught a bloody _smile_ of blasphemous _felicity_—from the Superior's lips. But then another long, sideways glance at the leader shows him that his facial expression hasn't changed at all; it's always been that same blank slate that only remembers how to contort itself into expressions of anger, hate, and malice. Either Xigbar is just imaging things or he has completely lost it with Aqua's constant yapping of Terra, Terra, freaking **TERRA.**

"...who was bold enough to even ask me out on a date! That got me blushing a bit, but I had to refuse because I didn't even have time for such things. I guess if circumstances were different, I would have..."

He's ready to pull up his hood over his eyes and ears at this point in order to just shut out the obnoxious noise and scene that are played out before him. But he knows that if he does that, then the Superior would most definitely not be pleased.

"...but then, I would still refuse to accept his offer anyway because, well..."

He can't even believe that he has to sit right next to the two annoying _lovebirds_—in fact, he can't even believe that Xemnas had Aqua replace his seat and have him be bumped down to the seat that used to be the now deceased Vexen's. Although the ranking of chairs at the round dining table does not hold the same significance as the ranking of their chairs at the room of Where Nothing Gathers, to Xigbar, getting demoted from his dining chair to The Chilly Academic's is like getting demoted from first chair to second chair in a symphony orchestra.

Meanwhile, the Luna Diviner, sitting a couple of chairs away from Xigbar's left, observes attentively at the actions of the Superior and the Keyblade Master—at the merry utterances and laughter of Aqua, at her warm smiles of joy—at Xemnas's faintest hints of the emergence of such expressions on his otherwise deadpan face and vainly dramatic animation of his arms.

Saïx was originally supposed to discover with Axel as to why Aqua has a significant fondness of calling Xemnas 'Terra,' and why she has an absolute refusal of addressing him as 'Suprerior,' 'Lord,' or any other honorable title. They were also supposed to originally find out what significance do Aqua's and Xemnas's star-shaped trinkets hold—Axel could have sworn he saw one of those lying on the ground several years ago around the streets of Radiant Garden—he could have sworn he remembered keeping it for himself, too, or maybe he did return it to its original owner at the incessant request of his ex-best friend, Isa. But then again, he probably is just envisioning this all too hard in an unintentional attempt to forge a memory into his head, for he couldn't remember for the life of him as to who the original owner was. All he remembered was the glee he felt in finding such an awesome treasure left to lay all on its lonesome on the cobblestone ground while they were on their merry way towards Ansem the Wise's castle—until Isa snatched it away from his grubby hands, that is.

Saïx and Axel were originally supposed to unwrap the mystery together about all of this, what meaning and connection such things could possibly have to Aqua and her stubborn ways on addressing and treating Xemnas as a completely different person from what they and the rest of the members know him as. They were supposed to hatch an ingenious method in using Aqua to their advantage in the midst of this all in hopes of controlling more of the upper hand in their plan to overthrow the Organization. But then of course, that all was abandoned when Axel began to care more about his time with Roxas and less about his time with Saïx. So now, here at the round table, the Luna Diviner sits, eating his meal and eyeing Xemnas and Aqua in discontentment as he tries to figure out for himself as to why Aqua calls and treats the Superior as the person whom she perceives him to be while also trying to figure out who on earth that original owner was of the star-shaped trinket that he and Lea found on the ground way back then. Neither of them can remember at all the appearance of how the stranger looked like, for they only met him or her for a few minutes at that moment in time, several years ago.

Saïx pries his eyes off the Superior and the Keyblade Master, forcing himself instead to look at the Flurry of Dancing Flames that sits across from where he's sitting. He notices him looking up from his plate of food every once in a while to catch a glimpse of Xemnas and Aqua and to give his peers an uneasy, sideways glance before resuming to eating his meal. Saïx narrows his eyes at him; he won't be talking to that bastard for a while, a very long while. Axel can go and have his makeshift heart while Saïx carries on his merry way towards receiving the real deal before long.

In the meantime, a blond-haired kid sitting a few chairs away to the right of Axel appears as though he is in a state of confusion. He stares at his soup and sluggishly stirs it with a spoon, mindlessly playing with his food as he listens to the sounds of Aqua's shrill laughter and chatter.

_She keeps calling him as Terra...I don't know why I care so much that she does, though,_ Roxas ruminates. It used to not bother him, but he realizes that the more he allows Aqua to spend time with him and his little circle of friends, the more he starts to fret and wonder about certain things that seem to have such obscure connections between himself and Aqua. In fact, he doesn't even mind Aqua's constant nagging at all on anything related to this mysterious Terra. His other friends, Xion and Axel, don't mind as well, although Axel does seem to be keeping his guard on this a bit. Roxas frowns as he contemplates on the reasons why Axel won't reveal to him certain things that pertain to himself and his forgotten past. He just doesn't get it, and is already beginning to have a bit of distrust with that flaming redhead. Perhaps he'll just have to find and pry the secrets out of Aqua herself instead.

At this instant, as the touchy-feely touches and speeches of Aqua and Xemnas become louder and more enlivened, The Freeshooter is at beck and call to pull his trigger and shoot that she-devil right in the head. But of course, common sense tells him that wouldn't be such a wise choice either. So instead of summoning his actual snipers, he just visualizes that he has them right there in the hands of his crossed arms, and initiates on making pulling-type leverage movements with his thumbs and forefingers while stink eyeing at the two lovebirds.

_I gotta think of something quick to stop this crud from going over the big surf,_ panics Xigbar mentally as he keeps his hawkish watch on Xemnas and Aqua. If he lets such crud slide out of his hands, then not only would he have lost Master Xehanort forever, but he'll be in some deep waters and over the falls as well. And he can only imagine what turmoil he'll be in if that bent Keyblade dude comes back alive and kicking, so he has to stop Aqua someway and somehow from influencing Xemnas any further before it's too late.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Aqua sits peacefully atop her bed as she gazes at her Wayfinder, caressing it with affection as thoughts about her dearly beloved reel in her mind. She is in a state of bedazzlement as she dazedly ruminates about every minute of her time she has spent with Xemnas so far. A warmhearted smile plays on her lips; she can feel bits and pieces of the Terra she knows all too well crack through that rough exterior of his. She can see it in his eyes—how they twinkle at her with faint fervor—how they juxtapose his ever so hollow smile. She feels as though it's like the good old times again whenever she converses with him, and she likes how such pleasant nostalgia can give her feelings of happiness and joy; feelings of adoration and ardor; feelings of romance—

"Mm?" Aqua utters as an amorous mood begins to wash over her. She knits her eyebrows and bites her lower lip as colour rushes to her cheeks and butterflies begin to flutter in her stomach.

Vigorously shaking her head, she mumbles, "No I can't, I just can't..." She sighs in disappointment as she reflects upon her devotion to Xemnas, and bats away at the nagging tingling in her stomach.

There are times when she would want Xemnas to know how she truly feels for him, and there are times where she'd rather just keep it all to herself. Either way, they end up emotionally hurting her anyway because here she is, at the most vulnerable point she's ever been in her life about her feelings, and yet she can't even fully act upon them because it hurt too much to think about whether her beloved would end up accepting or rejecting her.

The distressed damsel closes her eyes and frowns. She's come a long way with her efforts, but still has another long way to go before she begins to even see and enjoy the fruits of her labor. Xemnas is still like an emotionless Terra to her; however, she'll stop at nothing to repair that broken part of him.

"I'm not giving up on you, Terra," she declares as she glares at the Wayfinder and clutches tightly onto it; her antsy fingers are shaking from the growing agony and anxiety in her heart. "So you better stay strong for me."

* * *

**I can haz an important question that badly needs to be answered:** Alright so I'm completely done with Birth by Sleep. However, I have a question. I'm confused about Aqua's ending. When she fought Terranort, the vibe that I got from her was that she assumed that Terra simply gave into the darkness, ala Dr. Jekyll-and-Mr. Hyde style, so that's how he became evil. She didn't know that it was really because of Master Xehanort going into Terra and doing all that creepy on him was the reason why Terra became Terranort, right? Or did she actually know? Becuase she was also all like, "Give my back my friend's heart!" Or something like that. I'm wondering because I need to have this clarified so I can see how I can characterize Aqua and her relationship and interactions with Xemnas. I mean, I can't have her be stuck in blind faith forever...she's bound to get her reverse/rebirth at some point...

...Which brings me to my next statement: I hope all of you that's reading this so far don't have this assumption that this fic is meant to follow a linear plot. I'll try my best to make things follow in a chronological order, but man some of these themes just make hard to do so. Not only that, but this is 100 freaking chapters we're talking about here (I don't even know anyone who has the patience to read that many chapters of a linear story...). I already stated way back in chapter 1 that this fic is meant to be a slice-of-life type of storytelling/collection of one-shots, so any of these events so far could have happened at any point in time save for the introductory chapter because LOL, it's the introductory chapter, and it marks Aqua's first day in the Org. Some of the chapters may be chronological while others won't.

In fact, I actually skipped ahead and wrote theme #18 first than theme #4 (theme 18 is 'Love' btw, hurr hurr) because I was on a roll a few nights ago with this sudden rush of inspiration I received by finding out something spiffy about Terra's Earthshaker weapon (I will touch more on this once chapter 18 does get published). I also got a bit of a head start on writing theme #7 ('Eternity'), because the writing for that was originally supposed to be for theme #4, but it didn't fit the rivalry theme well. Seriously, some of these themes are kind of hard to think of ideas to write for...like WTF does 'Umbrella' have anything to do with Xemnas? LOL For the others though, I've already been crazy prepared to write for them while others it's like...eh, I'm going to need moar sources of inspiration before I get on to writing them. xD;

Oh, and by the way, chapter 18 will be the lemon chapter hurr hurr. I promise you, it's going to be gooood. So if ya'll knuckleheads stick around for that long, then you finally get your bittersweet lemon candy of angsty sex. I don't know if I'll be writing more lemons after that, though. We'll see.

And woah, even more reviews this time. It's a lot to respond to individually, but I'll say that yes, Xemnas's dreams will have significance later on.  
And so, thank you everyone for your helpful and amazing reviews! Keep them coming; I appreciate each and every one of them. ^.^


	5. Unbreakable

Theme No. 5: Unbreakable

Xemnas sits restlessly on his high throne in the room of Where Nothing Gathers. He has been sitting there for hours now, heavily concentrating on the two star-shaped trinkets that rest in his hands as he contemplates about what on earth they can mean. It can't just be a simple coincidence that Aqua has the exact same star-shaped trinket as he does, the only difference being hers is blue whilst his is orange.

"I see you've been fixated on those toys for hours now," Xigbar pipes up.

Xemnas shoots a quick look at him before returning his gaze to the star-shaped trinkets. "Aqua called them 'Wayfinders' and said that we had an unbreakable connection," he muses. "…I still do not understand what she meant by that."

"Hmph," Xigbar scoffs. He glares at his superior and crosses his arms as he thinks to himself, _Sometimes I really wonder as to whether or not you really are amnesiac, 'Xemnas'._

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Aqua, before I give to you what your assignment is for today, I have a question to ask of you," the Luna Diviner announces. He is standing before the Keyblade Master at his usual spot in the Grey Area with his clipboard in hand, and jots down some cryptic notes on it while waiting for her to respond.

"Yes?" Aqua utters, uncertainty replacing her once calm appearance. She hopes she didn't do something wrong on her missions for fear of upsetting either the Luna Diviner or the Superior and getting into trouble because of that.

Saïx narrows his eyes at her and interrogates, "Do you remember meeting a young ginger kid and a boy dressed in blue over at Radiant Garden, several years ago?"

Aqua's face twists into a look of bewilderment. She responds, "Uhh nnno, I don't think so…? Why do you ask?"

"That is for me to know and for you to find out," Saïx states matter-of-factly.

"Oh," Aqua blurts in a simple tone. She knits her eyebrows and frowns at the Luna Diviner.

Ignoring her expression, Saïx then goes on to say, "Today you are assigned with Number Nine to investigate and gather hearts on a new world."

At the sound of Saïx's announcement, the Melodious Nocturne halts his sitar playing and rises from his seated position on the lounge sofa. He saunters over to where Saïx and Aqua are standing and chimes, "Hey there, beach bunny. Looks like you and I got assigned to go to Treasure Island today. Kind of funny, huh? I bet you it's because we both use water attacks that we got assigned to search for buried treasure."

"Treasure Island?" questions Aqua, her expression becoming even more perplexed.

"Not 'Treasure Island'," Saïx asserts. "Port Royal." He lifts his right hand in mid-air to summon a Corridor of Darkness behind Demyx and Aqua. "Return to the castle immediately after you've finished. Now, go."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're goin', we're goin'," Demyx babbles. He waves his hand into the air as if to make his point. "No need to be so pushy all the time, sheesh."

Saïx just glowers at Demyx, causing him to tremble in unease.

Afraid of annoying the Luna Diviner furthermore, Demyx makes a gulping sound and quickly turns around to enter the dark corridor. "Come on, Aqua," he says, "Let's go."

Aqua makes a sound of affirmation and turns around as well. However, before disappearing completely into the dark corridor, she glances back at Saïx and gives him a skeptical look.

Saïx simply exhibits a nonchalant visage in return. He eyes her as she becomes swallowed up by the surrounding darkness, and once she is gone, his nonchalant visage twists into a discontented one. He cannot remember for the life of him as to whether or not he really did run into Aqua before at some point in his life.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_I'm not telling you what the colours of the star charm were that I found way back then,_ Axel thinks contemptuously as he stands with his arms crossed before his ex-best friend. _Man, I just wish you can just get out of my room and stop pestering me. _"I'm pretty sure it was blue," he lies.

Saïx plainly stares at the Flurry of Dancing Flames. "That is all I need to know," he states. Without any more words to say, he turns around and walks towards the door. Not even giving Axel one last considerable look, Saïx exits the room, leaving the redhead alone at last.

"Finally," Axel mutters as he plops down onto his bed. He lies down in his usual manner with his arms crossed under his head and his left knee slightly bent. He sighs as he begins to ruminate, _Heh, that's easy. The colour of the star charm was the same colour as the clothes I wore back then. That's why I kept it, because it was dyed my favourite colour. It was ora—_Suddenly, Axel's eyes widen as realization dawns upon him. He sits back up in one swift motion and mumbles, "It was orange…it was orange…orange is the colour of the Superior's star charm."

Furrowing his eyebrows at the realization, Axel blurts, "I actually met Xemnas before? Seriously! ? No way man, I couldn't even remember…" He turns his head to stare at the heart-shaped moon that lingers outside of his window, as if to find assurance in the wisdom and knowledge of that heavenly body.

"Wait a minute," the redhead mentions. "I think I do remember now…" He slowly lowers himself back down on the bed as he contemplates about that time when he found the star-shaped treasure on the grounds of Radiant Garden.

He remembers picking up the orange star charm on the cobblestone ground and keeping it for himself as he and Isa were on their merry way towards the castle. However, Isa caught him and told him to give it back to the stranger that dropped it, for Isa saw the stranger pass by them in a flash and accidentally drop the star charm onto the ground. Lea refused to budge, however, so Isa snatched the star charm out of his grubby hands and yanked him by the collar as he dragged him along to return the trinket to its rightful owner.

Axel chuckles and rolls his eyes as he reflects upon what Isa said to him on that day. "'It's the right thing to do,'" he enunciates in a mocking way. "That Isa, always the righteous one…" He frowns and exhales a frustrated sigh at his thinking of his once best friend. _Sadly, Saïx is no longer that boy I used to know._

Axel bats away at his persistent thoughts of Isa and resumes reflecting upon the rest of his memory of the star charm incident. He remembers clearly how the next scene played out in his memory, and thus begins to enact a soliloquy:

"'Excuse me', I remembered Isa saying to that weird kid. 'Is this yours? I noticed you dropped it by accident,' he said. Then that weird kid turned around and grabbed it out of Isa's hands without even saying a 'thank you'. Man, all of that for nothing and not even a thank you? Well, thanks a lot, Isa. So much for you and 'doing the right thing', _tch!_ And look, he didn't even give you a 'thank you'. So what do you make of that, huh, Isa! ? And then…yeah, that's it…that's when I began to notice how strange that weird kid was, because he began to walk away in this very funny but super creepy way. I mean, hell, I could've even sworn that some evil aura surrounded that creepy kid. So I told Isa, 'Uhh, don't you think there's something eerily strange about that kid? He's been acting kinda funny ever since we ran into him.' So Isa and I decided to follow him and well, whaddya know, he was on his way towards the castle as well. And then along the way, we ran into this chick that asked us if we've seen some friend of hers before. We told her, 'no', and then she was on her not-so-merry way towards the castle as well. And then Isa and I began to think, 'Man, what's up with all these people wanting to get into the castle lately?' There must have been something huge going on if so many of the people we ran into that day were all headed towards the castle. It gave me and Isa all the more reason to crash Ansem's pad, too. So we followed all these people and then stopped when we saw that chick standing in the middle of the town square with that weird kid. We saw something bad happening to that girl and then we got kinda scared, so we hid behind a tree and watched her and that creepy kid in sneaky silence. And then this huge battle ensued that just blew my and Isa's mind away that we didn't even move from our spots until nightfall came. We were just so scared of what just went on that we dared not to move an inch for fear of either of those two casting some sort of crazy spell on us, because they were just so whack, man, and—"

Axel's eyes widen gain as another sudden realization dawns upon him. Swiftly sitting back up again, he voices, "Holy smokes, I met Aqua, too! ?" He shakes his head in a vigorous manner and chatters, "No way, man, there's just no way. This is all just so insane. So bizarre…"

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Tell me what the meaning of these 'Wayfinders' are," the Superior demands. He holds the orange and blue star charms in front of Aqua's sight and sways them a bit, as if to emphasize his point.

"You don't remember?" Aqua asks as concern washes over her face.

She and Xemnas sit next to each other in comfort on the bed of her room, each quite focused on the star charms presented before them. Sighing heavily, Aqua grabs the Wayfinders that dangle from the Superior's fist and cups them in her palms with care.

"I made these a few days before our Mark of Mastery exam," she says as she examines the Wayfinders. "It was meant to be used as good luck charms to aid us in our exam."

"Is that so?" Xemnas questions, his eyebrows furrowing as he scrutinizes the Wayfinders that are cradled in the Keyblade Master's hands. "Earlier on today, you said that it had something to do with us having an 'unbreakable connection.'"

Smiling wryly, Aqua replies, "Well, you see, there's this place somewhere out there that harvests this legendary star-shaped fruit, and the fruit is supposed to represent an unbreakable bond." Gathering both Wayfinders in her right hand, she reaches out to Xemnas with her free left hand and grips his right forearm. Sliding her grip down to his forearm's palms, she places the Wayfinders onto it and secures them by closing his fingers around them with her right hand. She releases her left hand's hold of his forearm but continues to hold onto his fist with her right hand. She stares at it as she murmurs, "So as long as you and your loved ones carry lucky charms shaped like it, nothing can ever split you apart. You will always find your way back to each other." She breaks her gaze away from Xemnas's grip of the star-shaped lucky charms to look up at his face. "And that's just what happened to us, right?"

Xemnas also breaks his gaze away from the star-shaped lucky charms. However, instead of responding, he just stares and blinks at Aqua.

Exhaling bits of chuckles, Aqua states, "We've finally found our way back to each other. We're together again, because…" she leans forward, as if to close the gap between her and the Superior. She finally breaks her right hand's hold of his fist to lift it in mid-air. She extends it out towards Xemnas's chest; however, she halts midway as she hesitates on what exactly she should do. Sighing heavily, she lowers her hand and showcases another wry smile at Xemnas. "…Because we have an unbreakable connection, that's why. And because of that unbreakable connection, we'll always be…" The wry smile on her lips changes into a frown as she thinks to herself, …_together? As in, we'll always be an item? This is strange. I usually don't think like this, but then_… She opens her mouth to say something, but her words come out all strangled. "…An itemmmuh—togethhherrr!"

"An 'item'?" the Superior asks, his eyebrows quirking at Aqua's absurd slang. "What do you mean by this 'item'?"

Aqua tenses up from Xemnas's catching on to her. "Uh—uh, no—nothing! Hahaha, oh silly me, it was just a slip-up. I didn't know what I was thinking…" Her face contorting into an expression of dissatisfaction, she looks away from Xemnas as she muses again to herself, _…no, I did know what I was thinking. Ugggh, why is it so hard to say that I like you! ? I can't say it, and I won't say it! I'm just begging to cry my heart out if I do…_ Soon her lips are daring to tug themselves into a frown, and her eyes are on the verge of spilling tears.

Unbeknownst to the Keyblade Master, Xemnas cups her chin in his left hand and turns her head to face him. Surprised by his action, Aqua blinks rapidly and gapes at him, as though to exhibit a clueless countenance. Xemnas simply continues to observe her in silence, his keen eyes piercing the windows of her soul. He mildly sweeps his thumb over Aqua's soft, rosy lips; a tinge of rogue rushes to her cheeks as she realizes what he just did. However, before Xemnas can further do anything else, Aqua pushes away his cupped hand and mumbles, "I think you should go now…uhm, you have a meeting to attend to tomorrow, don't you?"

Xemnas just lingers his gaze upon Aqua's exquisite face. He grabs her right hand, unravels his fist and drops the blue star charm onto it. "Have a good night," he utters. While still locking his eyes onto Aqua's blue ones, he slowly rises from her bed and tucks the orange star charm into his coat pocket. He breaks his stare and begins to stroll over to her door. However, before exiting, he turns his head around to take one last keen look at the Keyblade Master.

Aqua, becoming uneasy from Xemnas's roaming eyes, blurts, "Well, good night."

The Superior nods his head in affirmation. Turning his head back around to face the door, he opens it and finally exits the area.

Relieved from the lifting of the tense atmosphere, Aqua releases another heavy sigh and reclines herself onto her bed in a sprawled fashion. She closes her eyes as she goes over her cluttered thoughts. _Does he notice my feelings for him?_ She turns over to her side to face her bedroom window and curls herself up into a ball. An air of agony overwhelms her features as she opens her eyes to look fixedly upon the heart-shaped moon that hovers in the night sky. She asks indirectly,_ When will he see how much he means to me?_

Little does she know, however, that as Xemnas turned away from her and began walking out of her door, he was concealing a brazen smile on his otherwise deadpan expression, for he thought to himself, _Of course we will be, little one. You will be mine, soon enough, and I will make sure of it._

* * *

**A/N:** Dear readers, I have responded to all of your kind reviews, and have put my responses below this omake. For now, enjoy how my brain acts like in the middle of the night whenever I've finished writing fan fic.

OMAKE TIEM

Terra: What, I actually forged a D-link with Isa and Lea without even knowing about it?

Isa: Lea would have been useless anyway. I mean, what the hell can you do with two frisbees?

Lea: Sta-foo', Isa, sta-foo'!

Isa: "Sta-foo'?"

Lea: Ess-tee-eff-yuu.

Isa: ...Very smooth, Lea, very smooth. At least I received an actual weapon.

Lea: No you didn't, it was a sham in shambles. Ugly-ass club-looking thing didn't even come out right when the moogles tried to make it look like the X-blade.

Isa: It's not ugly.

Lea: xP!

Isa: -_-;; At least it's more useful and more damaging than your flimsy frisbees anyday!

Terra: Wait—what? You had the X-blade? Was Vanitas coming on to you? e_e

Isa: Huh? Who's Vanitas?

Terra: You don't know who Vanitas is and yet you had the X-blade. How the hell then...(utterly clueless)

Lea: Get with the program, Terra! Just look at his X-face. (points at Isa and snickers)

Isa: ...e_e""""

Terra: You know, it would have been so bad ass if I could have used you as a D-link, Isa. I mean I get to use bits of the X-blade's power, so yeah.

Isa: Well, I become your second-in-command in a future game, so...

Pedo!nort: (intrudes) Did somebody say, "X-blaaaaaaade"? (exhibits creepy pedo!grin)

(Isa and Terra scream and run away from him)

Aqua: (grumbles and mumbles to herself) Apparently, Terra's so dense that he can't even see how much I—no, I won't say it!

Muses from Hercules's world: (intrudes and begins singing) Who d'ya think you're kidding, Teeeerra is the earth and heaven~ Try to keep it hidden; honey, we can see right through ya—

Aqua: —Oh noooooo—

Muses: —Girl, ya can't conceal it~ We know how yer feelin'~ Who you're thiiiinking ooooof~

Ah, what will become of Aqua's dear friend? Where will his actions lead them then?

/END

Alright, I just got done writing the 13.5k monster for theme #18. Longest. (lemon) one-shot. I've ever written. ever. homg wut is dis I dun even

I dished out theme #5 in one day, though, just to appease my readers for not updating. OTL I went through this over and over again though, but may have still left some grammar/spelling/syntax etc. mistakes since I wrote/edit/revised this all in one sitting (it'd be nice if I can find a beta reader here on who has time to beta read all of my chapters. I hardly ever get luck with someone who can get back to me in a decent amount of time. :\).

You know, I'm kind of tempted to just publish these themes out of order, but neh. Although I am getting kinda antsy now and am trying to dish out as many chapters as I can so that we can finally get to theme #18 lol srsly, I put so much work into that writing because I wanted to try out this idea that I haven't seen anyone in any fandom try out yet.

RESPONSE TIEM

_zenbon zakura:_ Lmao well I have been kinda inspired by The Beatles lately, what with my incorporation of parts of "Across the Universe" lyrics into my third chapter.

MonMonCandie: Oh yes, I can see Xigbar running for his life if Terra does come through. ;P

_EggDropSoup:_ Thanks for reviewing twice! x3

_Nirianne:_ omgomg nggggh thank youuu ;3; And yeesssh, poor Xiggy lol~ ( e 3 e)

_Anonymous:_ Yeah, I know, I've been active on this KH forum I frequent where I heard about the announcement of _Birth by Sleep -Volume Two-_, and I'm excited to have it soon. I just hope it's made for the PSP instead of that new PSP in the making. I hate to have to buy a console just for Kingdom Hearts. uggh I actually hate it how Square-Enix has been spreaing KH to all these consoles. I mean, to have a story that's told in saga format be spread out to 7 different consoles is absolutely ridiculous.

_Jadie Psycho Silver:_ lol not coke, but angel dust, my dear Watson. Angel dust is the most dangerous illegal drug out there. Heck, even druggies wouldn't try it out unless they're really stupid enough to do so because the side-effects of angel dust are just insane, and the high that one gets from it is not worth the risk.

_To everyone that replied to my question from last chapter:_ Thank you for answering my question! I think I have an idea now on where to go with the Terranort thing.

Yeah, I don't know what else to say except for moar reviews plz. Or else I get too lazy to update lol. Reviews motivate me, so keep 'em coming!


	6. Obsession

**Author's note:** We just take another look-see at Xemnas's journal in this chapter, so no dialogue from other characters in non-epistolary format.

* * *

Theme No. 6: Obsession

**Xemnas's Journal**

-.-.-.-.-Day 109: Dreams-.-.-.-.-

I notice that the more I spend time with Aqua, the more eccentric my dreams become. I also notice that plenty of them pertain to her in some way or another. For example, the dream I had last night was—how shall I say it—'surreal,' at the very least. Perhaps not in the terms of Salvador Dalí-style of surrealism; no, the entire dream itself appeared to be actually realistic, as if it were another lost memory of mine. Perhaps it was, or maybe it _is_.

The dream seemed to be hinting to a forgotten past of mine, a past life of when I once traveled with fellow comrades through worlds and fought enemies with them. The dream's reel showed me a frame of a scene where my brothers-in-arms and I set sail on the sea of the Greeks. During our voyage across the Great Sea, we encountered a nymph dancing amongst the shore rocks and playing in the water. We were still a fair number of nautical miles away from that maiden of the sea to even get a decent close-up of her features. However, she spotted us and instantly began chanting the most beautiful melody I have ever heard in my non-existent life. It was so beautiful that I ordered my captain to steer the ship towards that nymph's lagoon. However, he refused and did all he could to prevent me from taking over the wheel by tying me up to the mast. Of course, that didn't stop me from freeing myself and getting close to the nymph at all costs. It was just too easy to let lose the weak ropes by a simple blast of dark energy. I was obsessed, so obsessed with the song of the siren that I must have that enticing creature for myself.

However, as I steered close to the siren, I remembered little of what happened in the subsequent scene.

Looking back at the contents of my dreams, nothing appeared to be out of place save for that siren…

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…because strangely enough, she looked quite similar to Aqua, perhaps a bit _too_ similar.

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The scene of my dream soon transitioned into the next one, and this next one had no relevance at all to the previous one. I appeared standing in front of an odd boy whose face was hidden behind an onyx mask. He was discussing with me about the incentives he had for some supposed 'Plan B' of his. The more I listened to that boy speak, the more I became intrigued by this Plan B he spoke of.

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Apparently, the Keyblade Master was slated to be his Plan B.

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Plan B, huh? Hmmmm.

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah, pretty short chapter, but then again, the Organization members don't really spend so much time in writing overly long and emo journal entries.

I guess it's kind of apparent in this chapter shows influences from Homer's _Odyssey_. But I also got inspiration from this symphonic power metal band called Nightwish, since listening their song, "The Siren" (which is about Odysseus and the sirens), helped me a lot to come up with these ideas. I do intend to go in-depth about this particular dream of Xemnas's though, three chapters from now, so yeah, you'll get a look-see at the actual dream soon enough. I wrote this siren idea down for two themes because I'm trying to spread out my ideas as thinly as possible, so that way I don't run out of ideas for the rest of the themes and run into writer's block.

/Yarr these events are totally happening out-of-order lol

BTW, if you want to hear the siren song by Nightwish, copy and paste this in your browser's address bar (without the spaces and brackets of course): [youtu . be / RuqUoMfgMvM]


	7. Eternity

**Author's note: **I cannot take full credit for some of the quotes and lines written in this chapter since this is actually a song fic (albeit a _very _unconventional one). The italicized stanzas, some of Saïx's lines, and some of the white lady's quotes are lyrics from this song (in fact, the whole imagery and symbolism for this chapter was inspired by this song and its album cover): [youtu . be / ESumfSkondA] (copy and paste onto your Internet browser's address bar without the brackets and spaces, of course).

* * *

Theme No. 7: Eternity

The Luna Diviner can sense change in the air as he raises his arms out from his sides—palms facing upward—and takes in the energy of the heart-shaped moon. Lunar power circulates throughout his body, causing his Third Eye to awake and remain alert. His mind is clear now, and he opens his eyes and gazes down upon the water-filled ebony scrying bowl placed before him on a grey pedestal.

He stands on the balcony of a high steel tower where no one can pester him during his divination ritual. He begins his nightly scrying and detects for any sign of patterns, symbols, or pictures on the water's illuminated reflection. Just then, images begin to form and swirl around the surface, and Saïx tries to make out their shapes and outlines. They are blurry at first, but soon sharpen as their swirling comes to a halt.

Saïx observes the appearance of a sleeping lady floating upon the waves of night-cast ocean. An aura of mystery surrounds her as she rests soundlessly in the middle of the sea: her gown, dyed in the brightest white, is drenched by the water that surrounds her. Her hair, long and cerulean in colour, is also drenched, and looks as though it blends seamlessly with the texture and hue of the sea. Hovering above the lady is a snowy owl carrying beneath its claws a sealed letter of some sorts, and it drops the letter onto the sleeping lady. The lady, upon feeling the landing of the letter on her bosom, awakens from her slumber and gradually takes the letter off her bosom and opens it. Saïx can see that the woman's eyes are as blue as the ocean—she looked ominously familiar. Narrowing his eyes, he pays close attention to the letter's content:

_Deep dark is His Majesty's kingdom_

_A portent of tomorrow's world_

_There shall the liquid give Him power_

_The ochre-eyed unborn lord_

Saïx can see the woman's eyes widening in shock at the letter's content. Just then, the moon overhead transforms into a blood red hue, and the waves that surround the mysterious woman become violent. They part as a large swirling body of water begins to form before the doomed woman. From the vortex of the maelstrom emerges a demonic, dark entity that is so beastly in appearance that hardly any trace of humanity is left in him save for his robust arms. A peculiar heart-shaped hole pierces through the abdomen of the dark demon.

The lady, upon seeing the demon ascend from the depths of the Abyss, screams in great fear as he looms over her and snatches her with his spindly fingers. Suffocating, the lady attempts in desperation to free herself from the creature's death grip. Still, her minuscule strength is no match for the demon's, and in one fluid motion, the demon whisks her away with him back to his deep blue underworld.

The lady's wailing rings clearly through the Luna Diviner's ears as giant waves clash over her and the beast. The swirling portal to the trench closes onto them once they have been completely submerged underwater, leaving the violent ocean surface back into its calm state. Even the blood-red moon returns to its bright white glow once the waters have finally calmed down.

Saïx has a hard time observing on what happened to the woman, for he can no longer distinctly make out her form. She completely disappeared from his sight once that hellish beast whisked her away with him into the marine underworld. However, the scene on the scrying bowl morphs into haziness, then into clarity again as glowing alphabetical letters form from the hazy scene onto the liquid surface of the scrying bowl:

_The eternity will begin once again in peace._

The Luna Diviner reads the message before it diminishes into hazy nothingness, turning the scene on the bowl's reflection into absolute blackness with nothing but the light of the moon to illuminate the dark surface. Saïx stares at the bowl for moment as he contemplates on the meaning of the divination's cryptic images and messages.

"A prophecy of becoming floods, perhaps...?" Saïx ponders out loud to no one in particular. But just then, a faint image of the white lady appears on the scrying bowl's liquid surface and voices weakly, "The spell to master this Earth is carven on an infant's tomb."

Alarmed at the sound of the feminine voice, Saïx quickly looks down at the bowl but sees that the mystical image has been whizzed away into nothingness again.

"This Earth? What spell, what infant? What tomb?" Saïx interrogates, but the scrying bowl merely remains still and silent.

After a few minutes of unresponsiveness from the divination tool, the Luna Diviner sighs and decides to end his nightly scrying. He turns around and strolls towards the staircase that descends to the indoor of the metal castle. But before he sets his foot on the first step of the staircase, he looks back at the scrying bowl and frowns.

_The woman and the beast...what could they mean?_ Saïx ponders. _More importantly, what could their words mean?_

Slowly turning his head around, Saïx resumes his walk down the stairs. He takes his time to descend on each step as he ruminates over his night's divination. Something tells him that he isn't going to like what's in store for the future...

* * *

**A/N: **Yes yes, I know, there's no Aqua nor Xemmy in this chapter. But if you squint very hard, you can find them in there. In fact, this chapter is littered with allusions, metaphors, symbolism, and—dun dun duuun—FORESHADOWING! Aaaand all those other fancy literary techniques Actually, if you haven't noticed yet, I really really _love_ using allusions for Aqua and Terranort, hurr hurr. :B It's my absolute favorite literary device to use in describing/characterizing them. So make of what you will with which allusions and other fancy literary techniques littered in this chapter refer to Terranort, Aqua, and...another character (not gonna tell you, but the answer might be obvious if you use a bit of reasoning).

These events are still happening out of order, though (they always will), but I promiiiisshh I will get back to touching on Xemnas's weird-ass dream from the previous chapter soon; just one more chapter to go and I'll get there. Actually...have you noticed that all these freaking dreams are becoming more important in Kingdom Hearts canon lately (especially all that crap that's happening in _Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance_)? Just when I thought that KH couldn't get anymore convoluted...

Once again, reviews are greatly appreciated!


	8. Gateway

**A/n: **Once again, I cannot take credit for certain lines and quotes that have been written in this chapter, for they come from a song called "Devil and the Deep Dark Ocean" by Nightwish. You can listen to the song by pasting this into your browser's URL bar without the spaces and brackets: [ youtu . be / Q-lk4VzdX8w ]

* * *

Theme No. 8: Gateway

_Aqua's eyes flutter open as she awakens from her slumber. She can feel something strangely wet beneath her as the rest of her senses come alive. Uncomfortable with the strange situation, Aqua strains her neck to look up at the source of the damp sensation. Her eyes widen in shock as her mind registers her surroundings: what she believes to be the surface of her bed is actually the surface of an enormous body of water! Aqua can sense herself involuntarily drifting across this odd, watery plane. Also, her sleepwear isn't what she thinks it is as well, for her white lacey slip is longer and fancier than how it actually looks. Instead, it appears to be a relatively simple bridal gown, one that can be worn with ease to a destination wedding. Taken aback from her outfit and her environment, Aqua tries to lift herself all the way up. Yet she fails when her core sinks underneath the watery surface, thus causing herself to drown. But just before Aqua sinks any further, she swims with swiftness to the surface in an attempt to recover. Coughing from the difficulty of her breathing and from the water she swallowed, Aqua slowly regains composure and supports herself by moving her limbs back and forth against the water so that she can float. She cautiously scans her surroundings: a moonlit sky looms overhead while nautical miles and nautical miles of vast ocean stretch in all directions with hardly any land in sight. Aqua knits her eyebrows in displeasure as she soon realizes where she's located._

_She mutters in a slow way, "I know this place..."_

_Indeed, it is what she thinks it is: she is back in the Realm of Darkness—stranded in the middle of the black ocean, to be exact. Desperate to find even the smallest trace of land, Aqua swims her way frantically towards a random direction. She does this for several minutes until her lungs and muscles give in from the strenuous activity. Exhausted, Aqua takes a deep breath and exhales in a relaxing manner as she carefully repositions herself on the water so that she can float on her back. She lies silently still as she gazes upon the only source of light in this dim-ridden world._

_As much as Aqua won't like to admit it, there is something morbidly yet hauntingly beautiful about the visuals of the dark realm. Perhaps being stuck down here for so long must have gotten its aesthetics to grow on her. It is normal to see a night sky absent with stars due to bright city lights outshining them. But since there are no city lights in the Realm of Darkness, Aqua finds it bizarre to see an always perfectly clear night sky without it being cluttered with stars. If it weren't for the blindingly bright moon and scattered clouds, Aqua would have gone insane at the horrible thought of being surrounded by absolute darkness. Perhaps it just goes to show that there is light even in the deepest darkness._

_In fact, the moon is so bright that Aqua can see hues of muted azure blended so well into the supposedly raven firmament. Its radiance illuminates the ocean with sparkles and even Aqua's drenched dress—speaking of her dress, she still can't figure out for the life of her why she is wearing that ridiculous nuptial gown, and how on earth she even got around to wearing it in the first place. For all Aqua could remember, she had gotten ready for bed as usual and then went to sleep—only to later find herself awaken back into this horrid place._

_"This must be some sick joke that Axel is playing on me," Aqua reasons with disgust and contempt._

_Just then, out of nowhere, a great white owl glides above the calm waters and screeches a loud 'HOO-HOO' through the atmosphere as it nears towards the woman in ivory. The woman glances up at the animal and notices that it is carrying an ancient-looking scroll tied in red ribbon beneath its clawed feet. The owl merely drops the tied scroll onto Aqua, and she catches it with ease and care in order to avoid dropping it in the water. She unfurls the scroll and examines its contents:_

_I will die for the love of the mermaid  
Her seduction, beauty and scorn  
Welcome to the end of your life  
- Hail the Oceanborn!_

_Mixed sensations immediately rise from the pit of Aqua's stomach, as if butterflies just escaped from there. She doesn't understand the meaning of the scroll's message, but is very unnerved by its bold declaration of a death sentence._

_"What on earth is going on?" Aqua demands, her voice stern and frustrated. First, she finds herself stranded in the middle of the ocean. Then, she finds herself wearing an outlandish garb for no coherent reason whatsoever. And now, she finds herself struggling to understand an equally outlandish message that some bird delivered to her apparently out of nowhere. Clearly, all of this is making her so hysterical that she would rather just die from the nonsense of it all. _

_But amidst Aqua's effort to interpret the meaning of the message, who wrote it to her and why it was written for her, a deep rolling sound emits from the bottom of the ocean. At first, Aqua shrugs it off as she assumes that she's just passing over a current of some sorts. However, the rumbling soon grows deeper and turbulent as a maelstrom begins to form right in front of the sea-maid. The violent whirlpool becomes so massive that it appears as though it can occupy the length of twelve Olympus Coliseums! From its bottomless pit emerges a monstrous-looking, titanic battleship in a creeping, rugged fashion that the tidal waves it creates almost cause Aqua to drown again._

_The sea maiden, nearly trapped by being pulled in by the maelstrom's sheer force, desperately swims for dear life before she gets sucked in any further. In spite of this, an immense shadow eclipses her from above, and she pauses her swimming so that she can glance up at the source of the shadow. Aqua gasps in disbelief; she can see the battleship hovering over her! She gawks at the ship's unexpected ability to fly—and also at its grotesque, gruesome design. It seems to be made of entirely organic flesh, all discolored in mixes of pink, blue, brown and yellow—and twisted in various ways._

_The ship flies past her several meters away and then halts in order to make a wide turn. Aqua can see the ghost ship steer its direction towards her, and she gasps again as she sees the truly monstrous nature of the ship: the bow of the ship sports a live, demonic face. Its carved front features a bulbous, dark pink forehead covered with pale pink veins, and a thick, pointed mandible. Its hideous mouth is filled with large, white fangs that protrude out. The creature opens its mouth for a minute, and Aqua can see that the inside of its mouth is filled with mauve, green, and dark blue veins, with a twisted mass of mauve cords all fused together to forge a tongue. If it weren't for the creature's small yet piercing, black rimmed, luminous yellow eyes all boring down on Aqua's poor unfortunate soul, she would have gagged from the morbid sight and the putrid breath._

_Coming from either side of the creature's jaw is a long, thick arm-like tendril that is colored pink with a blue flash. Away from the bow are two leg-like protrusions attached to the battleship's underside where the keel should be. The foremost one, underneath the demon's face, is long, thin, and triangular. The rearmost one, underneath the stern, is an arc that is narrow vertically but wide horizontally. A long, rocky 'tail' also sprouts from the stern. The ship's hull is very long and its top is quite flat. It even has two rows of discolored teeth lining it, making it resemble the inside of a human oral cavity. Scattered along the side of the hull are bulbous patches of flesh covered in green-purple growths._

_On the deck of the battleship are some artillery organs in various sizes and fleshy colors. Nevertheless, they are as macabre-looking as the bow of the ship is. The superstructure of the ship is composed of some sort of glowing, cobalt blue core that acts as the life of the ghost ship. It is covered by dark, pink, flesh-toned pillars that twist to form a protective cage around it. On top of this cage is an unusual absence of the ship's mast—instead, in its place is a ghastly hell beast that looks like a cross between a Darkside Heartless, an Invisible Heartless, and Chernabog. The dark entity's typical Heartless antennas have been replaced with a protective helm of large, flat, jagged onyx horns. Its bright golden eyes have red rings around them, and its arms have loose, ragged flaps hanging from them like cloak sleeves. On the demon's shoulders are two bulbous, cobalt blue orbs that act as protective shoulder pads. There are also two yellow tubes that wrap around the demon's back, connecting to two scarlet reptilian heads underneath its arms. In place of the chimera's chest lies another horrid, ochre-eyed monster; its mouth is permanently open and dons sharp, ivory fangs and blue gums. The opened mouth extends all the way towards the abdominal region where it exposes the chimera's vertebra and a void, broken ribcage. The chimera's tail is fused into an orange hollow that appears to serve as a pilot's seat atop the battleship's cage. In front of the beast is a vile man that stands in mid-air; a supply of extended, blackened intestinal cords from the chimera's open stomach connect to the man's back in order to allow him to float._

_Aqua cannot see well on how the man looks like due to the distance between them. Nevertheless, viewing the ghost ship's awful features is enough for her to call it a day and head home—that is, if only she weren't stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. The water maiden smiles wryly; it's hilariously ironic how that phrase has become so literal for her now. She remembers how she and Terra used to joke around with each other with such phrases whenever they were faced with having to choose between the lesser of two evils—she would say that Terra was stuck between a rock and a hard place while he would say that Aqua was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. It's only appropriate that they would tease each other with their respective elements—quite cheesy, nonetheless frankly charming._

_But now is not the time to reminiscence, for Aqua really must choose between being whisk away into the deep dark ocean by Charybdis behind her or by Scylla in front of her. Having only a few minutes to rationalize before being pulled in by the maelstrom or chased around by the ghost ship, the Keyblade warrior deduces that it would be better to just confront the sea monster than to be completely swallowed by a massive whirlpool that no man can ever escape from._

_Aqua raises her right hand towards the sky in order to summon her Keyblade; however, nothing appears. Confused as to why her Keyblade hasn't appeared yet, Aqua tries to summon it again, but still, nothing happens._

_"Why is it not coming! ?" Aqua exclaims angrily through gritted teeth. She emits a noise of dissatisfaction from her throat and reasons, "Maybe if I close my eyes, it will come…" Thus, she shuts her eyes tight and initiates concentration on retrieving her Keyblade._

_But before Aqua can even attempt to summon her Keyblade in completeness, a surreptitious limb snakes around her waist and clutches her. Screeches split the air as the Keyblade warrior is reeled in by the limb at a tremendous speed. In fact, it is all happening so fast that Aqua cannot process everything that is happening. Disoriented, she opens her eyes wide, only to be greeted by a set of menacing, gold-orange ones._

_"Did you enjoy the little memo I wrote to you, my dear?" the insolent man sneers, with added emphasis on his last two words._

_Aqua, still a bit disoriented from the rapid movements of the man's arm, shakes her head in order to regain focus. She scrutinizes her captor: Sharp features grace the face of the tanned man while long, snowy hair flows past his shoulders. Nothing conceals his well-defined arms and torso while bizarre, organic material covers his chiseled loins and lower extremities—said bizarre material seems to be made of black myofibers, presumably from the very muscles of the man himself. Various yellow cords run all over the contours of the blackened loins and extremities, as if it is outlining them. A halberd whose crimson blades are shaped like a demon's wings can be seen in the clenched fist of the man's right hand._

_Ultimately realizing the identity of her captor, Aqua emits another ear-piercing scream through the air. "You, atrocious, audacious, outrageous…" she snarls._

_Immediately, Ansem twists Aqua around so that her back is facing him. He swiftly brings the halberd that's clenched in his right hand towards the skin of Aqua's neck, all the while gripping her waist tightly with his left arm._

_"One more imprudent natter of your childish insults and you'll know what awaits you," the Seeker of Darkness warns her._

_The Keyblade warrior almost slips another insult, but quickly bites her tongue before it becomes too late to do so._

_Leering at Aqua in satisfaction, Ansem mutters, "Good girl. Now where did I pause before your annoying __**prattle**__ interrupted my speech? Oh yes…now I remember…don't you see where you're situated right now? You're aboard __**the**__ one __**and only**__ World of __**Chaos**__!" Cackling, he then questions, "Do you know why you're here?"_

_Aqua simply shakes her head in a vigorous manner._

_"LIAR!" the Seeker of Darkness bellows with fury. He slices into the skin of Aqua's neck with his halberd, but only a tad. Regardless, the Keyblade warrior inhales a sharp breath as she feels her skin sting from the cut; warm droplets of blood trickle from the cut down to her collarbone._

_"I don't know why I am here! Honest!" Aqua shouts. "I don't even know how or why I ended up in the middle of this forsaken place—aaah!"_

_Ansem slices a bit deeper into the wound on Aqua's neck, but definitely not enough to decapitate her. "Only fools would come up with such __**ridiculous**__ fairy tales!"_

_The helpless sea maiden grimaces from the growing pain as more blood trickles down her neck. If she keeps giving that bastard the incorrect answers, then she will unquestionably be further injured by him. She'll have to make up a plausible explanation within a matter of seconds, or else she'll certainly be off with her head very soon._

_"How was I supposed to know? !" Aqua snaps. "You never told me specifically! You never told me, ever!"_

_Impatient and irritated by Aqua's ineptness, Ansem roars, "YOU INCOMPETENT WENCH! Must I remind you again that the reason why I brought you here is because your __**virginity **__is DISGRACEFUL, __**that—is—why!**__" He takes a moment to calm himself down before answering again. A malicious smile forms upon his face. It widens to a grin as he states, "But no matter, for Death has already woven your wedding dress!"_

_Evil laughter rings through the heavens from Ansem's velvety, baritone voice; Aqua can feel his chest rise up and down as he wallows in his laughter and cruelty. Chills run down the spine of the lady in brightest white; she dreads and detests the terrible Seeker of Darkness. Something tells her that she knows exactly what he wants her to say next._

_"Now tell the exact words I want to hear," Ansem orders in a threatening way. "You know what they are, yes? Because if you don't—" He presses the blade of his halberd against Aqua's wound, prompting her to wince again. "—then it is off with your pretty little head!"_

_"Seeker of Darkness," Aqua hisses. "You have it."_

_"Have what?" Ansem demands._

_"Everything! What more can you ask for? You've become a god already."_

_"__**And…?**__"_

_"And…" Aqua starts to tremble in humiliation as tears of frustration escape from her angry eyes. "…you have me. Everything that is mine—it is all yours now."_

_Chuckling arrogantly, Ansem murmurs into Aqua's ear, "Brave now, for long rest is sweet with me, here in the deep…"_

_Shaking her head, the distressed damsel utters through a quivering voice, "I prayed for pleasure, wished for love, prayed for your—"_

_"NEVER PRAY FOR ME!"_

_"Who the hell are you for me? ! But a mortal dream to see…?"_

_Ignoring Aqua's pleas, the Seeker of Darkness pilots his ship towards the maelstrom until it is directly above the eye. "You see this, my dear? In just a matter of minutes, the eye of Charybdis will clear a way to reveal a gateway to the blue abyss. And once that happens, this ship will commence plunging all of us down towards this gateway." Smirking, he asks, "What do you say, __**my sweet?**__ Our descent into darkness—COMPLETE DARKNESS! The other world, my kingdom; see the universe for how it __**truly**__ is!"_

_The World of Chaos starts to tip downward, instigating Aqua to shriek as the slanted movement makes her feel as though she is about to fall. Although no matter how much she hated being clutched by her malevolent captor, if it weren't for him, she would have fallen to her death already._

_However, Aqua's safeness is short lived as the titanic whirlpool becomes even more titanic in order to make way for the earth underneath. The earth shakes greatly, triggering a huge crack to form rapidly down the center. The crack widens as the sliced earth parts ways to reveal a swirling black portal to the world beyond._

_"No, no…" Aqua cries in despair as the World of Chaos begins plunging at lightning speed; there is nothing that she can do now to prevent Ansem from ever commanding the ship towards her demise._

_Chuckling in wicked delight at the distressed damsel's doom, Ansem declares, "This apathetic life—"_

_"Leave me be…"_

_"—must drown __**forever—**__"_

_"Leave me be!"_

_"__**—just**__ FOR—"_

_"Leave—"_

_"—ME!"_

_"—me be..eeeeee…e__**—**_**eeeEEEEEEE—**"

Aqua's shrill cries of fear reverberate all around her room as they escape from her dream world to her waking life. Now wide awake, Aqua sits upright in one quick motion from her sleeping position. Her chest heaves up and down as she breathes with harshness; beads of sweat roll down her face from her forehead. Squeezing her eyes shut, Aqua presses her fingers over them and rubs them firmly. She drags her fingers over her temples and up her crown as they rake through her long, tangled blue hair.

"It was just a dream, all just a dream," Aqua assures to herself. "One, terrible dream."

Sighing heavily, Aqua returns to lying down on her bed and attempts to go back to sleep. However, her mind is still reeling in a frenzy as it struggles to process all that just happened, so Aqua tosses and turns many times in order to shut down her thoughts and resume sleeping. But no matter how many times she tries to sleep peacefully, her mind just won't stop reeling and her heart won't stop racing. The dream has shaken her up so much that she's no longer even sure if she even wants to doze off. Getting out of bed, Aqua paces over to her closet and grabs an Organization coat. She drapes it over her body and slips her arms into the sleeves; the coat loosely hugs her curves as she doesn't even bother with zipping it up. Then, she walks over to the door and opens it. She exits her room, slamming the door shut behind her as she does so.

Aqua strolls alone down the hallway, her arms crossed and rubbed back and forth by her hands as she makes her way towards the Grey Area. She reaches the end of the hallway and stops in her tracks; her eyebrows rise at the sight of a familiar azure-haired person standing in his usual spot at the Grey Area. Only this time, however, said person has his back turned towards her.

"Saïx?" Aqua calls out.

At the sound of her voice, Saïx turns to face Aqua. "Oh, it's you," he says. "What are you doing here?"

"What are YOU doing here?" Aqua questions. She starts marching over to where the Luna Diviner is located.

"Moon gazing," Saïx replies, his eyes watching Aqua's every movement until she has reached her destination. "Now what is your purpose for being here and for being up so late?"

"Oh, I couldn't sleep, so I decided to just stay up and walk around for a while."

"I see."

Neither of them speaks for a while. Saïx simply resumes his focus on the moon, uninterested in mustering up small talk for Aqua. But the awkward silence soon starts to make Aqua uncomfortable, so she asks the Luna Diviner, "Do you do this a lot?"

"Yes," Saïx responds, his fixed focus unwavering. "Almost every night."

"What for?"

"Meditation and divination purposes."

"Ah, I see."

Saïx points his finger left of his shoulder towards a spot in the sky. "Kingdom Hearts is a moon unlike any other. You see where my finger is pointed? That was where Kingdom Hearts was last night." Then, he moved his finger to an extreme far right area of that spot. "Now it is hovering over there. Usually, moons do not orbit that quickly in their lunar cycles. But in the case of Kingdom Hearts, it's different. It doesn't orbit this world like how a moon should. Instead, it moves wherever it pleases."

"Hm, I see…interesting," Aqua remakrs. Suddenly, a brilliant idea comes to her. _Oh yeah! Why didn't I think of it before? _"Hey, Saïx?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know anything about dreams?"

"Why?"

"Well…"

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Hmm," Saïx mumbles, his mind lost deep in thought. "That is a lot to decipher. Usually, dreams are subjective, so I can only tell you so much about their interpretation. I am able give you a general definition of certain symbols, but the rest are something that you have to figure out for yourself."

"Oh…" murmurs Aqua with a hint of disappointment in her voice. "…I see."

"However, I will tell you this."

"Hm?"

"Go write down everything you just told me on a piece of paper, and I will take time to look over it and decipher your dream. I will have my answers ready by no later than three days."

"Alright, thank you."

Saïx simply nods his head. "It's late. I must be going now."

"Okay," Aqua chimes. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Sleep well tonight," Saïx says. He turns and begins walking towards the exit. _It's strange how it all adds up,_ he muses. _Her dream is too uncannily similar to what the scrying bowl revealed to me the other night. Maybe, this omen…hmm….I'll have to rethink using Aqua to my advantage._

Aqua watches Saïx's retreating figure become smaller and smaller until it rounds a corner, thus disappearing from her sight. Sighing, she spins around to face the long window. She gazes back at the heart-shaped moon, her mind having gone astray due to the countless number of thoughts racing through it.

_It's so weird…and so confusing...I just don't get it,_ Aqua contemplates. _There was a man, a horrible, evil man in my dreams whom I'm pretty sure I have never even met before…and yet, I somehow seem to know him…the conversations I had with him appear to point out so._

Aqua knits her eyebrows together as she deliberates in her mind. _One thing I don't like was his reason for bringing me to that place. _Frowning, she goes on to think, _I'm not a whore. And—_**aah!**

Aqua's heart jumps at the sudden sight of two bright, orange eyes superimposed over Kingdom Hearts. "No, leave me alone! Leave me alone!" she cries. She turns away in panic, only to find herself bump into a certain someone before she can even make a step.

"**Aaah—**oh…it's just you," Aqua gasps.

Standing in front of her is none other than the Superior of the In-Between, staring down at her ever so intensely. "You are up late," he remarks.

"Y-yeah," Aqua mumbles. "I couldn't sleep at all."

"Is there something troubling you?"

"Just a bad dream, that's all."

"A nightmare, hmm…"

Xemnas just continues to stare at Aqua. After a moment, he removes his eyes away from her face and lets them roam down her body as he notices that her Organization coat is unusually unzipped. He doesn't say a thing as he ogles the woman's appealing choice of nightwear.

Feeling uncomfortable from the Superior's eyes roaming with freedom all over her form, Aqua absent-mindedly shakes her head and weakly pushes him away as she paces—with arms crossed—towards the lounge chairs of the Grey Area.

"Please, just go away," Aqua pleas, her voice hollow. "I just want to be left alone for a minute."

Ignoring Aqua's plea, Xemnas moves over to where she is standing and faces her again. He cups her chin and lifts it up to meet his gaze. "You don't want me here?" he probes; he can see Aqua's pupils dilate.

"Yes," Aqua responds angrily. She lets her eyes linger on Xemnas's for a second before shifting hers from side to side.

"You're a terrible liar, Aqua," Xemnas states coolly. "Your eyes say otherwise." He lowers his head towards Aqua's features, his lips leaving only three centimeters worth of space between hers. Not able to withstand the power of the Superior's actions, Aqua squeezes her eyes shut to block herself completely from it all.

"Why don't you take a seat over there?" Xemnas insists, his voice deep and low.

Aqua's eyes flutter open; she looks at where Xemnas is pointing his finger to and goes to sit down at the location. Xemnas follows suit, seating himself down on the sofa next to Aqua in a comfortable manner—in fact, too comfortable. His arm is snaked around her, and the distance between them is entirely absent.

Aqua grabs the Superior's encircled arm with reluctance and traces her hand down to his, her thumb lightly rubbing the backside of his tanned palm. She asks him, "So why are you up?"

Xemnas answers, "Because I could not sleep either."

"Had a bad dream as well?"

"No. Other matters kept me from slumbering peacefully."

"Oh, I see."

Eyeing at what Aqua is wearing, Xemnas comments, "You look splendid in that slip."

Aqua, blushing at his compliment, shyly looks down and murmurs, "T-thank you…"

"Where did you purchase it?"

"I bought it at a boutique in London while I was on a mission there."

"I see."

They sit in silence for a while, both of them staring out the oversized windows of the Grey Area and upon the bleak scenery presented behind it. Awkward glances are passed to each other from time to time, especially when Xemnas goes to rub Aqua's thigh softly with his free hand. Breaking the silence, he finally speaks, "Tell me about your dream."

Hesitating, Aqua answers with uncertainty, "I'm not sure…I kind of don't feel like talking about it right now." It was so easy for her to explain it in detail to Saïx, but with Xemnas, it's a whole different story.

"It is not necessary to reveal to me every single aspect," Xemnas assures. "A generalization of the events is sufficient."

"Fine then," utters Aqua. "I'll tell you…"

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Aqua fell asleep long ago on Xemnas's encircled arm. The weight of her head is causing his arm to fall asleep as well, so Xemnas lifts Aqua's head up with care and repositions her on his lap. He slips one arm under her legs and the other under her back so as to secure her. Carrying the slumbering lady in his arms, Xemnas stands up and starts to walk his way out of the Grey Area.

The Superior's footsteps echo throughout the hallway as he treks the long path towards Aqua's room. He gazes down at her, whom is sleeping like a baby in his arms. Xemnas cannot help but smirk; thanks to his cunning manipulation, he was able to coax the poor unfortunate soul into spilling to him every single bit of detail about her nightmare. Sure, it may have been just a dream, but something tells Xemnas that what Aqua just experienced could be another key to unlocking who he truly is—and to what he'll do with her.

Xemnas, having reached his destination, struggles to grasp the door knob with one hand while still carrying Aqua in his arms. He succeeds in turning the knob all the way and nudges the door open with his foot. He saunters over to the bed, pushes its covers aside, and gently lays Aqua upon it. He slips the bed covers over her dainty form and lowers his head to meet her temple, his lips only inches away from brushing her skin.

"From cradle to coffin…shall my wickedness…be your passion…" Xemnas whipsers as malice laces his deep, silky voice.

Grinning like a madman, he kisses the forehead of the sleeping beauty goodnight and begins walking his way towards the exit. Before he departs, however, he turns his head towards Aqua to give her one last lascivious look. Her face is as serene as ever, and seems as though it is at long last unbothered by disturbing dreams. Xemnas can see parts of Aqua's slip and Organization coat sticking out from under the covers. He allows his wicked smile to linger on his lips for a bit before turning away and exiting the room. Eventually, that woman's slip and coat would have to come off…

* * *

**A/N: **Wow you guys! It's been another aeon since I last updated; sorry about that. The reason why I haven't been able to update quickly this entire summer was because I had to become a full-time student and take some mandatory university courses over the summer, thus leaving me with absolutely no time whatsoever to write for leisure. So was I only left with one week of vacation before the autumn semester began again. -.-;

Okay so…I didn't get a lot of reviews as I thought I would for the previous chapter, and from what little reviews I received, it seems that not a lot of people liked that last chapter. Yeah, I actually didn't like it that much either, because I had a really hard time thinking of something up for "Eternity". It was just…bleh. Well it's alright, but I don't think it was as good as the other chapters I've written so far. I see a lot of people were confused about a lot of stuff in "Eternity", such as the meaning of the symbolisms in it and why I had Saïx instead of a more reasonable person like Xemnas look over that prophecy. So hopefully what I wrote in this "Gateway" chapter will clear up the confusion from the previous one. Also, while not specifically stated in "Gateway", I'd like to point out that the reason why I used Saïx in "Eternity" was because of his title, 'The Luna Diviner'. I thought it'd make sense to have him do all that obscure magick divination stuff since he looks like the type to do so more than Xemnas. And also, I have written down some ideas for Saïx's motives in regards to overtaking to Org and how he'll go about in doing it, and wanted to tie it into these chapters.

Actually, I would like to give honorable mention to **dancingwithdestiny **for being the first person to nearly get all of the meanings correctly lol: "_The woman is Aqua, lying dormant in the Realm of Darkness, her white gown representing the light within her that she has held onto. She receives word—a hint—about what has become of Terra now, and is then found and taken by the heartless 'beast', Xemnas. The words, 'The spell to master this Earth is carven on an infant's tomb,' refers to the Terra inside Xemnas (the Earth), and Ventus (the 'infant'), and the Nobody who resembles Ventus—Roxas—being able to bring out that different side of Xemnas."_

The only thing she didn't get right was the Heartless monster being Xemnas. Well it can, but I really had more of Ansem SoD in mind.

Well, I really hope I have cleared up confusions in this chapter and that you all enjoyed reading it. Heck, Saïx wasn't even supposed to be written into it in the first place! Lol. But I make amends. And I also really wasn't sure in how to go about writing Ansem's character since this is my first time ever writing about it. I tried to make his lines as hammy as possible without going overboard that they become more like satire than serious drama. LOL idk, I believe that you can't have Ansem speak without his signature, 'Large Ham' lines. XD;

Speaking of Large Hams, here's some omake for you guys, a present from me to you for waiting so patiently for the next update lol. Just be warned though...this is my brain on crack, and I act like I'm mentally 3 years old whenever I write fics late at night and finish writing them in the wee hours of the morning.

Omake 1

Terra: You know what this chapter is missing?

Aqua: What?

Terra: Tentacles, and lots of it.

Aqua: (angry look) You perv! (SMACK)

Terra: Ow! D; That's not what I meant!

Aqua: Yes you did, you liar!

Terra: (sad face)

Omake 2

Aqua: I think Ansem, Seeker of Darkness's lines need just a little more meaty, meaty ham to it.

AnsemSoD: That's what she said.

Aqua: (shoots him a dirty look) And! And! I still don't understand why my Keyblade wasn't able to come to me in this dream!

Xemnas: That's what she said!

Aqua: 8O! (smacks AnsemSoD and Xemnas in the head)—to both of you!

AnsemSoD and Xemnas: (in unison) Ow…

Omake 3

Master Xehanort: Just the way that Xemnas said that one line to Aqua, "Why don't you take a seat over there?" reminds me all too much of Chris Hansen from that "To Catch a Predator" special on _Dateline NBC_…

(Suddenly, Chris Hansen magically poofs right into the scene out of nowhere)

Chris Hansen: Hello. How are you today? Why don't you have a seat? (glare) Right over there.

Master Xehanort: D8! OH SHI—(tries to run away)

Chris Hansen: Oh no nono, no no, just stay here and sit down for a while.

Master Xehanort: (dirty look) You're going to take away my POWERRRRRRS!

Chris Hansen: No, I'm not going to take away your powers. I'm not going to take away anything. I just want to have a little chat with you.

Master Xehanort: …(sulks and reluctantly sits down)

Chris Hansen: Good, now—

Master Xehanort: I DIDN'T KNOW HER AGE! I SWEAR!

Chris Hansen: (ignores him) You stated in your online chat with our '15-year-old' decoy that you were willing to let your 'heart' go into hers so that you can 'feel her up well'. Explain this to me.

Master Xehanort: (shifty eyes) T-t-th-th-that was a ridiculous prank played onto me by my friend…

Chris Hansen: And who's your 'friend'?

Master Xehanort: …Eraqus…

Chris Hansen: Do you know his last name?

Master Xehanort: ...No.

Chris Hansen: How do you know him then?

Master Xehanort: We met during Keyblade training!

Chris Hansen: And he told you to come down here and play a little 'joke' on our decoy?

Master Xehanort: ABSOLUTELY!

Chris Hansen: So he told you to chat with an online girl who told you that she was 15. And she gave you the directions to come here.

Master Xehanort: (shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders) This is the wrong house, I swear! I made a wrong turn and mixed up the house numbers!

Chris Hansen: (glare) So you just happen to see some blue-haired girl stand out there?

Master Xehanort: (getting frantic) I don't have 20/20 vision and I left my glasses at home!

Chris Hansen: Mmhmm...now, I see that you have a camera in your hands. Let me see its contents.

Master Xehanort: …

Chris Hansen: Come on, let me see it.

Master Xehanort: ...(grudgingly hands it over to him)

Chris Hansen: (intense stare) These are pictures of teenage boys! So you have a thing for them?

Master Xehanort: (grumbles something incomprehensible)

Chris Hansen: Let's see what we have here…a blonde, a brunette, and a whitehead. So you like a variety, huh?

Master Xehanort: nngggh…(getting irritated)

Chris Hansen: Oh wait, what's this? We have two brunettes! Is that your preference?

Master Xehanort: (crosses his arms and grumbles something incomprehensible again)

Chris Hansen: (pauses a bit and has a thoughtful expression on his face) These boys here look a bit older than the usual age group that the predators I catch like to go after. Do you like ephebes?

Master Xehanort: What?

Chris Hansen: Do you like ephebes? Adolescents?

Master Xehanort: …

Chris Hansen: Do you know that it's still considered statutory rape in this world's laws if you go after anyone who isn't a fully grown adult?

Master Xehanort: I can EXPLAIN, sir!

Chris Hansen: (ignores him) And now you're preying on young females—

Master Xehanort: I-I said that I can EXPLAIN—

Chris Hansen: I think what you have here is a case of ephebophilia. (waves camera in front of MX) You do know that acting upon ephebophilic preference is illegal when the adolescent is below the legal age of consent, yes? (points to camera's screen) All these boys are under the age of consent.

Master Xehanort: I swear to Kingdom Hearts, sir, it's all a misunderstanding! I'm a photographer for high school yearbooks!

Chris Hansen: And you call these here (points to pictures on the camera) 'school pictures'?

Master Xehanort: OF COURSE!

Chris Hansen: (gives MX a 'weirded out' and suspicious expression). Okay, okay, that's all I needed to know…

Master Xehanort: I'm not going to get arrested, am I?

Chris Hansen: (lies) You're not going to get arrested.

Master Xehanort: So…I'm free to go?

Chris Hansen: You're free to go.

Master Xehanort: GOOD! (snatches his camera out of Chris's hands and storms over to the exit)

Chris Hansen: Wait, wait! Hold on, hold on (walks over to where MX is standing). Now before you go, I need to tell you something.

Master Xehanort: (takes hand off the door knob) What?

Chris Hansen: I'm Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC.

Master Xehanort: (getting uncomfortable) I know that!

Chris Hansen: Then you know we're doing a story on men who try to meet underage kids online for…

(Meanwhile, outside of the house, the local police are racing into position)

Chris Hansen: …anything you want to say…

Master Xehanort: (doesn't want to listen to Chris anymore and attempts to escape; he flings the door wide open and runs for dear life)

The police: FREEZE! FREEZE! GET ON THE GROUND! GET ON THE GROUND! (runs over to where MX is at and tackles him to the ground, his hands chained to his back by handcuffs) DON'T MOVE! YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!

Master Xehanort: NGAAARGH!

(Later on, MX is taken to the criminal affairs department to undergo interrogation and investigation. Much, much later on, he is trialed in court where he is plead guilty of several attempted lewd acts on minors, and is sentenced to prison for life.)

-End-

So we've figured out what MX's weakness is…GETTING CAUGHT BY CHRIS HANSEN. –dun dun dun—MX creeps me out so much that I need to go scrub myself LOL. Okay well that's all for now and once again, reviews are very much appreciated!


	9. Death

**Author's note:** So I mentioned in a couple of previous chapters that some ideas I have for some of these themes unfortunately have to be out of order since the themes do not come in the numbered order that I wanted them to be (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to change the numbering order around when doing this 100 theme challenge…). And that meant that every scene I have written so far is happening in a very non-linear, random way (I don't even have a set date as to when they all happen…I'm not good at planning at such things). I think I inevitably have to use flashbacks as a framing device. Well, in order to make this all less confusing, I'm going to write events that have already happened—but were written later than expected—into past-tense so that you know that it has already happened. So expect some parts of this chapter to be written in past tense.

* * *

Theme No. 9: Death

Xemnas is sitting on his bed, all decked out in simple, satin black nightwear. He has tried many times to go to sleep and has failed. Too many thoughts that are rushing like a current all over his brain prevent him from sleeping. He just sits there, going over each thought one by one in order to calm his mind down and clear it out.

Several nights ago, he wrote about a particular, strange dream in his journal—the one that mentioned about a siren and a young masked boy discussing about a 'Plan B'. He didn't go into detail very much about that dream, for he was uncomfortable doing so in writing. However, Xemnas can still remember with clearness as to how that dream played out in his head. Closing his eyes, he relaxes back onto his bed and begins reminiscing…

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_In the midst of the vast ocean that occupied the world of Hercules sailed a russet vessel, faring well against the strong breeze as it made its way across the cerulean waters. Atop the deck stood three young sailors, all appearing to be of adolescent age. One of them, a boy graced with Oriental features, was slightly leaning over the wooden rails as he peered into his telescope._

"_See any signs of land yet?" a tanned boy hollered from the stern of the ship; he was in control of the helm._

"_No," the Oriental sailor replied._

"_Then keep looking!"_

_The Oriental sailor shot daggers at the helmsman for a brief moment until a sound was made by their third shipmate._

"_Xehanort," the third shipmate bellowed. "Show one more sign of snark and we all get docked points for lack of sportsmanship."_

_The helmsman only sneered. He continued to steer the ship without paying attention to either of his shipmates, his mind preoccupied with reaching the island of Thrinacia in as little time as possible._

_The third shipmate let out a low, faint grumble as he stood in the middle of the deck, eyeing the two fellows in a hawkish way. He first set his eyes on the one manning the telescope at the starboard side of the ship._

Eraqus, _mused the boy in his thoughts._

_He didn't say much else, instead thinking of the way Eraqus moved about and how his presence governed the deck._

_Young Eraqus sauntered up and down the ship's starboard in a manner that made his smooth black hair and matte robes billow with such grace against the strong winds. His hair was tied back into a simple—albeit a bit spiky and feathered—high topknot; loose strands of hair that were too short to be tied back were left hanging as fringes at the sides of his face. He wore an indigo uwagi embellished with a white crest, shaped like an outlined heart with an inverted cross of spikes jutting below it, all stamped onto his sleeves and backside. Underneath his kimono was a simple white nagajuban. He wore a distinct beige hakama as the bottom ensemble for his outfit, with a set of oversized buttons and several belt loops sewn at the top. A long, tan obi encircled the belt loops thrice, coming together at the front to form a bow atop the first and second encirclements of the long obi. A pair of pointy, clunky, brass metal boots covered the feet of the young apprentice. All in all, his appearance was one that emitted quiet sophistication._

_However, __none__ of the boys were sailors in a true sense of the word. They were not midshipmen training for the navy; regardless, sailing across the waters of the Aegean Sea was part of their exam for the Mark of Mastery._

_There was one peculiar feature of Xehanort that was rarely seen in humans—it was one that was exclusive to sentient beings who were much like him: golden eyes. Before Xehanort's exposure to darkness, he had brown eyes—brown eyes that were much like Eraqus's. But now, those eyes were different. They reek of ambivalence and growing suspicion in place of the innocence that once graced them. They very much reflected the questioning and adventurous nature of Xehanort, his thirst and determination to explore new worlds, his desire to expand his knowledge, and become the strongest of all Keyblade warriors._

"_Yen Sid," Xehanort hollered._

"_Mm?" the third shipmate spoke._

"_What are you looking at?" Xehanort questioned; he slowly quirked his eyebrows at him._

"_Oh, just—nothing of interest that comes to mind."_

"_Then quit dawdling and start searching for land!"_

_Yen Sid bowed his head in agreement and walked over to the port side of the ship. He pulled out a telescope from his pocket and began searching for any sight of land._

_Sometimes, Xehanort couldn't stand working with either of his teammates. He found it a hindrance and preferred getting things done on his own, for he might be able to reach his goals a lot faster if he just did everything by himself. However, there were times where companionship served some useful purposes for him. He observed Eraqus, who was becoming a bit bored at peering through his telescope, but nevertheless continued to do his job._

_Xehanort found Eraqus to be a decent, mellow fellow. He didn't like him at first, finding him at times to be a thorn on his side that he wanted to get rid of. Their relationship grew to become one of a friendly rivalry of some sorts. But ever since embarking on the Mark of Mastery exam together, their friendship had become a bit strained due to poor conflict management. Eraqus was a good-natured boy—quiet, kind, sympathetic, considerate, consistent, detail-oriented, loyal, and traditional—sometimes perhaps a bit too much like one who colors inside the lines and never ventures outside of their comfort zone. Indeed, Eraqus was a stark contrast to Xehanort's progressive nature._

_But then the same things that characterize Eraqus could also be said about Yen Sid. He was more of an enigma to Xehanort, however, for he knew him for a shorter time than he knew Eraqus. Nevertheless, Xehanort found the lad to be a bit stuffy and pompous. He switched his attention over to Yen Sid: he couldn't think of much positive things to say about him, other than perhaps being sophisticated and wise beyond his years._

_Yen Sid's hair was tousled and mousy-brown, and his eyes were an intense cobalt hue. He wore a navy blue sweater vest with matching tie and a white, long-sleeved cotton button-up shirt underneath. Black trousers cover the bottom half of his body. He also wore a hooded midnight blue wizard robe over these garments. Polished ebony oxford shoes complete his ensemble, giving him a total finish along the likes of an old money socialite._

"_Land ho!" Eraqus shouted. He raised his index finger in the air, pointing to where he found land._

_Snapping out of his thoughts, Xehanort turned his head towards the direction of where Eraqus's finger was pointing at. Just a nautical mile from where their ship was located stretched a wide, crystalline lagoon, surrounded by colossal mounds of earth covered in vegetation. A couple of scattered white rocks jutted out from the turquoise water from random locations. Perched atop one of them was an ethereal creature—a nude woman with sweeps of taupe feathers growing out of her arms, as if they were wings. Gorgeous ultramarine tresses shyly cover her exposed globes of flesh, but the rest of her bare form that wasn't covered by her hair could easily be seen. She was absolutely stunning, and she exemplified this effect by singing a sweet and enticing melody._

_Her powerful tune reached the ears of the approaching seamen, who steered ever closer towards their impending doom._

"_Xehanort! XEHANORT!"_

_Shaking his head vigorously, Xehanort snapped out of his trance. He was so bewitched by the wicked woman that the he didn't notice how he had steered the ship so close to the hazardous jagged rocks. _

"_XEHANORT!" Yen Sid shouted one more time as he violently shook the shoulders of his companion. "Cover your ears! Do you not see what danger you are steering us towards to! ?"_

_The irritated steersman brushed Yen Sid's arms away from him. "Cast a deafening spell on me, and __I will __just reverse it."_

_Yes Sid just frowned. "__Such stubborn actions__will just weaken your candidacy for __the Mark of Mastery exam if you do not do something __to protect yourself from the very thing you are being tested for!__"_

"_Just tie me up then!" Xehanort spat. "Look, I want to hear that siren's song to the fullest. So just tie me up to the mast. That way, __I will not__ be tempted to jump ship and yet be able to enjoy some nice music at the same time." With that said, he beamed at his shipmate._

_Looking defeated, Yen Sid exhaled a long breath. "Alright then, if that is what you wish."_

_He glanced over to Eraqus, who idly stood by and was apparently oblivious to the siren's haunting melodies. Yen Sid undid the defeaning spell he casted upon Eraqus and called out to him. "Eraqus! Take charge of the helm. Our friend here will be busy being tied up at the base of the mast."_

"_Wait—what! ?" Eraqus yelped. Incredulous, he shot his attention towards his two comrades standing at the stern._

"_You heard me," Yen Sid responded. "This boy is too stubborn to plug his ears and wants to hear the siren song for himself."_

_Eraqus stared at Yen Sid and Xehanort for a moment before shaking his head in disbelief and disapproval. He grudgingly walked over to the stern, the irresistible voice of the siren catching up to him. However, before he could enact upon anything foolish, Yen Sid re-casted his deafening spell upon him. With the tempting melodies now off his shoulders, Eraqus easily made his way towards the stern and took a good look at Xehanort one more time before snatching the ship wheel's handles out of his hands._

"_Hhhoooones-s-tly," he voiced aimlessly, trying his best to communicate over the deafness. "I do-on't knoooow how youuuu manaaage to ke'ep uuup a'nd pa'ss a'll theeeese eeexam-in'ati-o-ons wiiith suuuch TENAAACIT'Y."_

_Xehanort grinned at him, trying his best to suppress a laugh. Then, he was jostled aside by Yen Sid in order for Eraqus to step in and take the wheel. Yen Sid proceeded to push the stubborn Xehanort over the stairs of the stern. However, it was not without struggle, as the siren's seductive song was starting to affect him as well. Fearing the deceiving and bewitching tunes, Yen Sid casted a deafening spell upon himself. He resumed pushing Xehanort down the stairs and towards the deck until they were at the base of the mast._

_Yen Sid jabbed his index finger onto Xehanort's chest and gave him a look of disapproval. He shoved him firmly up against the mast. Mouthing an inaudible chant and waving his hands in the air, Yen Sid levitated some nearby ropes and willed them to float over to where he was standing. The ropes magically secured themselves around Xehanort, rendering him unmovable. Yen Sid stood back, dusting his hands together and admiring his handiwork for a bit. Turning on his heels, he strolled over to the starboard side where the view of the lagoon was. Xehanort, upon seeing that he was being ignored by Yen Sid, simply gave him a smirk before shifting his attention towards the lady on the rock._

Stunning indeed_, Xehanort thought. The siren was unlike any other creature he had seen before, a heaven blessed beauty whose voice was so divine that it made the poor boy's heart wrench with need._

"_Come to me'eee," the siren crooned, her winged arm extending towards him and hand curling into a 'come hither' signal._

_Xehanort was breathless at this point. He traced the ethereal beauty's naked form with his eyes, roaming from exquisite curve to exquisite curve. He noticed that she was positioned in a casual but coy fashion as she teased him with her beckoning hand and her eyes—goodness gracious, those hypnotizing, brilliant azure eyes of hers—she looked familiar somehow…_

…_And then there was her voice. That voice…_

_It was so calming, so soothing, so pleasing to Xehanort's ears that he couldn't stand it anymore._

"_UNTIE ME!" he roared, desperation clouding his throat. "UNTIE ME!"_

_No one heard him._

_Maddened beyond reason, Xehanort growled, "UNTIE MY HANDS!"_

_No one paid attention to him. Both Eraqus and Yen Sid were too busy being deaf._

_Xehanort banged his head against the wooden mast in frustration. "Fine then," he hissed, his eyes narrowing in mischief. "__I shall__ take matters into my own hands."_

_Taking the plunge, Xehanort uttered a very weak fire spell, his fingers twitching as embers frayed the bottom edge of the ropes. They had just the right amount of burnt fringes to them, allowing Xehanort to ease himself out of his bondage._

_He let the ropes slide slowly to the floor with such caution, so as to not surprise the steersman. He muttered a curse at Yen Sid for making him face towards Eraqus's line of sight. Despite the movements that the rash Keyblade warrior just made, Eraqus was oblivious to the whole occurrence as he was focused so intensely on navigating the ship past the wretched lagoon._

_Still, it was better to be safe than sorry, and Xehanort knew that Eraqus could easily spot him at any moment since everything was in his line of sight. So he did what he knew best: calling upon the powers of darkness, he teleported himself behind Eraqus. Grinning at his successful little stealth mission, Xehanort proceeded to knock his friend out in one easy sweep (Eraqus was never great at wrestling) and take back the helm. Now that he was back in charge, he maneuvered the ship towards the siren with such giddiness that he didn't have a care in the world whether the ship would crash and sink._

_The extreme angle at which the ship suddenly took a turn caused Yen Sid to topple. "Eraqus what are you—" feeling yet another sharp turn, he grabbed the rail of the deck in a frantic attempt to regain equilibrium. Once the ship completed its turn, he looked over to where Eraqus was supposed to be. He saw the young warrior knocked out cold on the floor and a certain reckless teenager taking up his spot. His eyes widened in shock._

"_XEHANORT!" he screamed with fury; he ran over to where Xehanort was and tried in desperation to yank the ship's wheel out of his hands._

"_You cannot stop me!" Xehanort spat as he struggled to keep his grip onto the helm. "Wait, you __cannot__ even hear what __I am__ saying!" Grinning impishly, the entranced helmsman decided to take matters into his own heads. _Fine then_, he thought. _If Yen Sid wants the helm, then he'll have the helm…

_He let go of the ship's wheel and tackled Yen Sid out of his way. He started sprinting towards the starboard. Reaching the rails, he scrambled onto it and made the dive of his life._

_Flabbergasted and frustrated at the sudden turn of events, Yen Sid foolishly left the helm and ran over to where Xehanort just abandoned ship. Panicking, he reached his arm out towards him in a hopeless attempt to call him back, despite knowing that it did nothing to stop the heedless lad from swimming towards his doom._

"_Come to me," chanted the siren; she eyed the unfortunate soul with vicious lust as she blew a kiss towards him._

_Completely mesmerized, Xehanort quickened his strokes. _Just need to swim a few more meters, _he deliberated. His heart was racing and his ears were pounding_. Only a few more—

_Flashes of bright light, coming from both the direction of the siren and Yen Sid, collided in the middle where Xehanort was situated. The intense bang of magical powers disoriented him for a bit. He only had a few seconds to recover until another ball of magic hit him, this time from the siren. The impact made his sides ache in agony, and he was struggling to stay afloat, to not drown…things were happening too fast…_

_He could see the sea nymph raise both of her hands in the air, her winged arms fluttering and waving around in a ritualistic manner. She paranormally pulled the ship towards the sharp rocks that litter the water's edge, causing it to smash against them. The lagoon behind her began to glow, its shallow waters turning supernaturally deep. And from these cursed waters, the siren summoned a tidal wave to wash away the eyesore that beheld her._

_Xehanort could not remember what happened next, for his ears were ringing and his vision was failing. All that his brain could comprehend were bits and pieces of some semi-audible sounds of waves crashing upon the ship and destroying it, the muddled cries of anguish coming from his two mates, and the unbreakable chanting of the siren. The voices became even harder to hear as Xehanort lost control and was submerged many fathoms deep into the sea by the nymph's powerful spell. All was dim; he couldn't see, he couldn't breathe. A magical, powerful current swept him away into the blue abyss, asphyxiating him, drowning him to his death… _

…_It was over. He was finished. He was—_

—"_So, what do you think, Master?"_

_Xehanort made a groaning sound. He squeezed his eyes shut; his head was hurting like never before. He rubbed his temples to soothe the aching; he could have sworn he was just drowning in the midst of the Grecian seas just a second ago…_

_He muttered a reminder to himself about taking his pills to control his migraines, then let go of his forehead and opened his eyes. What he saw caught him off balance for a bit: standing in front of him was Vanitas, the dark half of Ventus whom he gave life to not just too long ago._

_The baffled old Keyblade Master glanced at his hands: they were gloved. He lifted them to his face again and ran his fingers alongside his cheek. He could feel lines and wrinkles where they shouldn't have been—could feel the peculiar beard that grew from his chin. This couldn't be happening; he was just on an odyssey to becoming a Keyblade Master just a few minutes ago…_

_Xehanort observed his surroundings: he and Vanitas were situated in the corner of a stairwell, a place discreet enough for the two to talk in private. The layout of the place was instantly recognizable, as its decorations and architecture emitted a style that could only be found in a specific world: the Land of Departure._

"_Master Xehanort?" the masked boy called._

_Blinking, the perplexed Master stared at Vanitas. He wasn't sure what the boy was asking him, so he told him, "Remind me again what it is that we are discussing here."_

_Vanitas groaned. "Man, old man, you gotta lay off on those pills sometimes." He scratched the back of his helmet in annoyance. "Anyway, as I was saying, should Ventus fail me, I plan on using Aqua as my backup—a 'Plan B', per se."_

"_Oh?" Xehanort murmured, intrigued. "And how exactly do you plan on using Aqua as your backup?"_

_Vanitas chuckled darkly. "The same way that Ventus was broken apart, at least somewhat. I'll take the darkness out of Aqua and make her pure." His lips twitched into a smirk under the mask he wore; he was excited about the thought of battling the newly crowned Keyblade Master. "I've gotta hand it to her, she's got a strong heart. She'll survive—that is, until the χ-blade is formed."_

_Xehanort's face lit up, his mouth stretching to a wide, malevolent grin. "Plan B, you say? Excellent! Aqua would make just the excellent spare…" he cackled, his voice echoing throughout the empty stairwell._

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Xemnas raises his palms towards his temples to massage them. He stops reminiscing and releases an exasperated sigh; it's all too much to take in just for a bunch of jumbled dream scenes. Although at times, his dreams don't even feel like dreams at all, but more like scattered memories of a forgotten past. Sometimes, he can't even tell apart which segments are purely dream substance and which ones are fragments of memories. Like that supposed Mark of Mastery exam that he and this 'Eraqus' and 'Yen Sid' were in, for example. Xemnas is pretty sure that he and his crew travelling along the coast of the Greek isles for their exam is authentic, save for perhaps that particular segment where he was being reeled in by the call of the siren…

Speaking of which, Xemnas finds it strange how much that sea nymph looks like someone he knows very well. It is impossible for that scene to have been part of the original memory, or at least in just the way the siren's appearance is like.

Xemnas's lips curl into a mischievous smirk; he must just be thinking a little bit too much about Aqua lately. She is alluring after all…alluring enough for it to be the death of him—in that dream, at least.

But then that leads him to his next pondering, which would be the sudden change of pace in his dream from the odyssey to the scene where he was discussing with the masked boy about Ventus and Aqua. First, there is Vanitas himself, whom Xemnas seems to apparently know despite never meeting him before. _This one must be clearly memory_, he muses. _And then there is—_

"Ventus?" Xemnas blurts out loud. "That masked child knew about Ventus?" He sits up from his reclined position, eyes wide and heart racing as an epiphany hit him.

"Everything that was mentioned between us in that dream—it is all clear now." Xemnas gets out of his bed and walks over to his desk. He opens the journal that rests upon the desk's surface, his hands flipping the pages in a hurried approach. "Ah yes, I must ask Aqua about the location of the Chamber sometime."

He stops flipping the pages as soon as his hands land upon the entry titled, "Day 109: Dreams". Skimming over what he wrote, he mumbles to himself, "I am one step closer to accomplishing one of my many goals." He grazes his fingers over the page, feeling the smoothness of the paper rush past his tanned skin.

"However," Xemnas murmurs, a spark of malice igniting his orange eyes. "I plan on keeping this 'Plan B' to myself." His lips twitch into a smile—a cruel, sinister smile—at the thought of 'Plan B'. "After all, all is fair in love and war."

* * *

**A/N: **Wow you guys! It's been a little over year since I last updated! I hope I haven't lost so many followers during my absence. Oh well, I guess I can't blame 'em. I mean, I myself honestly lost interest halfway in writing this chapter and nearly decided of giving up all together due to my waning interest in the Kingdom Hearts series. Now don't get me wrong; I still love Kingdom Hearts and even love it more than I love the Final Fantasy series. But when I become active in a fandom, it isn't forever. I either drop out indefinitely or just change my roster from time to time. This whole year, I got into a whole slew of games that were released and caught my attention. So I got heavily involved in those fandoms for a long time, and it wasn't until the release of _Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance _and a couple of new reviews from my dear readers that I decided to come back and finish this darn chapter. My fic seems to have gotten a review drought as people seem to have also moved on to other fandoms as well once the Birth by Sleep hype died down. Ah well, like I said, I can't blame 'em since I'm guilty of that, too.

But honestly, I am having trouble containing interest for Dream Drop Distance as well because I don't have the money to go buy yet another console just to play another KH game! :( Man, why can't Nomura just make everything on one console…

But then, I might as well just watch the play-throughs on YouTube anyway so that I'd be up to date with everything. Mind you, I already spoiled myself, but still. I mean, is it worth it? Does the plot clarify lots of things (besides the obvious Xehanort stuff)?

I mean, IDK man. All this new info might be useful for my fic writing. A lot of things I predicted were right and a lot were wrong, and a lot now mess up the headcanon I have for my fan fic. So now I have to find a way to make all of this work without contradicting the plot of the entire KH series.

**(SPOILERS for Dream Drop Distance begin here)**

So we find out that our resident Pedonort is back again to molest little boys and chase after jailbaits of both genders. And then we also find out, in a whopping plot twisty turn of events that he really has been the Dark Lord Voldemort all along. I mean, he goes and leave horcruxes of himself! That was what the sole purpose of the Organization was about this whole time! I can't believe none of us saw that coming. D8

/I always knew that Terranort was a Slytherin XD

I mean seriously, I am amazed at the amount of crazy-prepared planning that Master Xehanort pulled off. Every accident was actually intentional after all, including the fall of the Radiant Garden cast (and I heard that MX purposefully let himself have amnesia as well in order to advance those Radiant Garden plans?). I'm telling ya, this guy is like a master of pulling off a Xanatos Gambit!

And then there's the original Radiant Garden Nobodies—well well well, it seems like they did come back to the Realm of Light in their uhm, present bodies after all! So no Isa and Lea turning back into little kiddies then. But then, how did they get their hearts back, and how did they come back to the Realm of Light?

And Lea lost his tear tattoos! /Dun dun dun/ Talk about such dramatic symbolism of redemption!

No wait, Isa is still Saix, right? I haven't watched the endings all the way; I just knew that he and Lea fought. :( I still hope that they become best friends again in KH3. I mean come on, it's Disney, man. Disney is all about happy endings.

Oh, and then there was time travel. Eww. Now that was one theory that I did not like to see come true. I mean yeah, adding an additional theme to the KH list of them such as dreams is all fine and dandy, but time travel? Really, Nomura?

Not much sign of Aqua in this game. 8( That makes me a sad panda. I'm still crossing my fingers that there will be a BBS v2 and that it would give us more Xemmy/Aqua goodness.

So I heard that young Xehanort makes an appearance again in Dream Drop Distance thanks to that darned fandangled new time travel element thrown into the KH universe, and that he will be with us for the long run. Well well well, now I guess I can legit ship him with Aqua after all!

/Hell I think I should just give Aqua a harem of Xehanorts…but then kick out Master Xehanort, of course

**(SPOILERS end here)**

So. I don't know if any of you noticed, but uhm, I modeled young Eraqus's appearance after Jin from _Samurai Champloo _(and perhaps a bit of inspiration from Terra's outfit as well). xD And I modeled young Yen Sid's out of young Dumbledore's from _Harry Potter_. XD I hope I did alright in those departments…I really wasn't sure about how I would uhm, "character design" them. Oh yeah! Another thing about Dream Drop Distance that messes up my headcanon is what I read about on the KH Wiki that Xehanort only took the Mark of Mastery exam with Eraqus? So he and Eraqus had the same master while Yen Sid had a different one? Blah, I'll have to see for myself once I watch the YouTube play-throughs.

Oh yes, and of course, there's that new dream element added to the KH universe. Now I didn't see this coming as well, and my usage of dream elements in my fic absolutely have nothing to do with me hearing about KH 3D when the first news and leakage of it came out. Uhm, I just hope that everything I've done so far is following KH 3D canon so I don't have to revamp so many things. If not, then uhm…just pretend that Dream Drop Distance never happened. 8D

Well no, I mean, if so many of the new plot elements in KH 3D contradict with everything I've written so far, then I'll just go about with my fic set within the 358/2 Days and KH2 timeline. As of now, all that I've written so far is still within the 358/2 Days timeline ('cause I'm sure that Xion is still alive and kicking). KH 3D happens after these two games, right? Or does it fall somewhere in between? Ergh!

/sigh

Oh well, I'll deal with all of that later. For now, I'd just like to say that since I haven't updated for so long, you wouldn't believe how much of my own plot that I forgot about. xD; Like I forgot what was going on and what was supposed to happen next, and how to make it all flow coherently. x_x My own notes didn't help because I'm too vague and cryptic whenever I jot down stuff for brainstorming. Ergh. I had to go back and read all the previous stuff I wrote despite not wanting to due to the whole, "uggh I can't believe I wrote all of this crap and that anyone would even want to read it!" feeling that I get. X( And you know what? It's okay…I got over it. I find my writing to decent and enough to get me blushing at the intense Xemnas/Aqua moments hurr hurr

Actually, there were times where I even forgot about crucial plot points in KH canon or had to come to a stop because it just made me scratch my head. Like for example, how the hell did Xemnas even _know_ about the Chamber of Waking? Or that it's even called that? Heck, how did he manage to make the Chamber of Repose even look nearly identical to the one that Ventus is sleeping in? Where'd he get all this info from, Aqua's armor? e_O Sometimes, I feel like I'm like Nomura's co-writer or something and have to fill in all the blanks in his confusing story while he's on vacation, or just do it myself because he's too lazy to fill in all the retconned plot holes himself. ARGH

Well lesson learned. From now on, I'm going to make a detailed outline in my notes of everything that has happened so far so that I know what to write next.

Aaargh I'm rambling. But anyway, I'd like to thank all who revealed and all the newcomers that added my fic to their favs and alert lists.

I'd also like to thank **SoraSakuraba896** for editing this chapter!


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